


Keep Holding On

by EmilytheLemur



Category: All Hail King Julien, the penguins of Madagascar
Genre: Details about a fight, F/M, Mention of Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:43:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29787321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilytheLemur/pseuds/EmilytheLemur
Summary: It's been a few months since Alex arrived at the Central Park Zoo and she's thinking about returning home. But then she receives some devastating news. Meanwhile, someone shows up from King Julien's past who tells him that their beloved island is in trouble. Read to find out what kind of trouble.
Relationships: King Julien/OC, Kowalski/OC





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The lair was quiet. Even the clock refused to make a sound. Alex sat in front of the TV, though it was muted. She had asked her father if she could go with them when they did a mission, but Skipper had said that Alice was staying late at the zoo, and he didn't want to take the chance of Alex getting caught. 

The female penguin has been here four months now, and even though she was captured by Alice once, along with a couple of Youtubers she turned into penguins, nobody seemed to notice that she was there. She just assumed that Alice thought she and the Youtubers were her father and his team.

Thankfully the zookeeper hasn't tried to catch any of them again. Skipper explained that Alice didn’t really care enough about the animals to do more work if she could help it. Just in case, Alex has been extra careful every time she leaves the safety of the HQ.

But whenever the zoo is open or when the others go on missions, she mainly stays inside. Other than being stuck in here when Alice is around, she liked it at the Central Park Zoo, although she has been trying to find the right time to tell Kowalski, her boyfriend, that she was going to leave soon and go back to her mother. She's missed Daisy. She was glad that she finally had a father, but she never realized that she would be missing her mother this much; well after all, Daisy was the one who raised her, so she guessed it made sense.

Finally, bored of watching the muted TV, Alex got to her feet and walked to the couch and laid down. She's been sleeping on this couch since there were only four bunks, one each for the penguins who lived here before she arrived. Soon after she got here, Kowalski had offered her his bunk to sleep in, but Alex had told him that she was fine with sleeping on the couch and that she couldn't take his bed.

Right when she was drifting into sleep, the hatch opened, making her jerk into wakefulness. Alex blinked and got up, looking across the lair at the ladder, where the four penguins were climbing down, jumping off it and landing on their feet in front of the bunks.

As soon as he saw that she was awake, Kowalski walked over to her, leaving his friends to do whatever they wanted. Alex noticed that Skipper said something to Private, who nodded and went back up the ladder, disappearing out of the hole that closed a heartbeat later. The leader and Rico went to the table where they began to play cards. Normally Alex would ask if she could join in, but she knew she couldn't keep holding off telling Kowalski that it was about time she left.

“I brought something back for you, honey,” the smart penguin announced, and Alex noticed that he had his flippers behind his back.

She looked at him with a curious look, wondering what it was.

He held out his flippers which had a snow cone in it; he had a smile on his face as he handed it to his girlfriend. Alex made herself smile, although it wasn't a real one; she just hoped Kowalski didn't see that. Honestly, the last thing she wanted right now was a snow cone, but if she refused it, he would start to get suspicious and ask her what was wrong, and she couldn't tell him what she wanted in front of everyone.

She looked down at the slowly melting rainbow ice in a paper cone; the colored water was dripping on her flipper then onto the floor, making a very tiny puddle. The penguin sighed and began licking the ice before it melted completely. But her mind wasn't on what she was doing. Instead it was whirling with everything she had to tell Kowalski. She sometimes wished discussing this kind of stuff was easy, but it's not, and she had to tell him, like it or not...and she didn’t like it, because she knows once she tells him, it’ll break his heart.

Alex put her tongue back in her beak and looked up from her snow cone. “We need to talk.”

“Okay.” There was concern deep in Kowalski's eyes, but his voice was filled with confidence.

Slightly aware of the other two penguins' eyes watching her and Kowalski walking to the ladder, Alex tried to push the forbearance out of her head. She began to climb upwards, the snow cone still in her flipper, but just then the fishbowl was moved aside and Private's face appeared. He had a worry look in his eyes as he looked down at Alex, who jumped off the ladder to allow him to climb down.

When Private got inside, he walked over to his leader and whispered something to him. Skipper turned to him with a disturb look on his face.

“Where? When?” the leader questioned Private, who shrugged, and pointed up, probably saying “out there” without using words. Skipper said something else to the penguin, but it was too quiet for Alex to hear. Then Private handed his leader something, which Skipper took and then walked over to his daughter; Alex watched him with confusion.

_ What was going on? _

Skipper held out his flipper which had a piece of paper in it. “This is for you,” her father said. “Not sure what it says, but whoever gave it to Private said that it was important that it gets handed over to you right away.”

Alex took it and started reading it, aware that her snow cone was still melting slowly. When she was half way through the note, her eyes widened, and she couldn't stop herself from gasping. She heard Kowalski ask her what was wrong, but he sounded far away. The female penguin kept reading the letter, her eyes moving from word to word; she suddenly felt sick, and like she was about to fall over and pass out. When she got to the end of it, her eyes started watering, and the snow cone dropped from her flipper, hitting the ground. She had tried to keep the tears inside her, but when she blinked, the hot water started to roll out of her eyes and down her cheek.

It felt like time had stopped moving as she threw the paper to the floor and started to climb the ladder. She could feel the eyes of the other penguins watching her as she went, and she saw out of the corner of eyes that Kowalski tried to follow her, but Skipper held out his flipper, signaling to the tall penguin to stay where he was.

Reluctantly, Kowalski obeyed his leader and stayed where he stood, watching his girlfriend jump out of the hole and hop onto the platform outside. Even when she was gone out of his sight, he still stared at where she was a few moments ago. It was his leader's voice that roused him from his deep thoughts.

“Maybe we should give her some space,” Skipper suggested as he walked over to the paper Alex had dropped. He picked it up and looked it over, although Kowalski knew he couldn't understand a word on it. “But I want to know what this letter says and why it made her start crying.”

His team exchanged glances, having no idea what could be written on the paper.

Silence fell onto the room as the penguins tried to come up with a logical reason why Alex would just break down crying in front of them. After all, she had Skipper's blood and the tough leader never cried.

“Private.”

The young penguin looked up at his leader when he called him. “Yes, Skippah?”

“Who gave you this letter?” Skipper asked.

The private shrugged. “I was going to go get the popcorn like you told me when suddenly a bird landed in front of me. He had a piece of paper in his mouth, and he handed it to me, saying that I needed to get it to Alex right away and that it was important.”

“How does he know Alex?” Kowalski asked, suddenly curious and worried.

Private shrugged again. “He didn't ask if I knew her or not. He just...handed me the letter and said it needed to get to her.” He took a step closer to his leader as he added,” At first I wasn't sure if I should bring it to her, but then King Julien said that—“

“Ringtail?” There was surprise, and even suspicion, in Skipper's voice. “What did he want?”

“Well, he had wanted to know where Alex was,” Private replied. “Then he saw the letter and asked what it was. I told me that some bird just gave it to me, and he said that I had to give it to Alex, because it could be important. But I didn't know it would make her cry, honest!” He stared wide eyed at his leader.

Skipper was looking at the younger penguin with unreadable eyes. When he blinked, though, whatever was in his eyes vanished to be replaced with determination. “Let's take this and have the chimps read it,” he said as he pointed to the letter. Then he rolled the paper up and placed it under his flipper as he began to climb the ladder.

Private and Rico followed their leader, but when he got to the ladder, Private slipped on the snow cone that was slowly melting on the floor.

The small penguin got to his feet, but the ice-water was still on the bottom of his foot, making it hard for him to stand. Rico sucked up the melting ice like a vacuum, cone and all. Then Private started kicking his foot, spraying the water everywhere. When he could put it on the ground without slipping, him and Rico started climbing the ladder.

Kowalski stayed where he was for a few moments, until he decided to go with his friends.

When he got out of the hole and onto the island, he looked all around him, going in a complete circle, so he could take in everything at once. But he didn't see what he wanted to.

_ Why did Alex go? _

Noticing that his friends had jumped out of the habitat, Kowalski shook his head to clear it and followed them, hoping wherever she was, that Alex was alright and watching out for danger; he could tell by the way her expression deepened into misery that whatever the letter said it wasn't good. He wasn't worried about what the letter said though. If she was too sad to watch out where she was putting her own feet or what was surrounding her, Alex could get hurt.

Just then his feet came out of under him, and he found himself lying on the ground, on his stomach. He got up and saw that he had tripped over the legs of one of the tables. He shook his head to stop the buzzing sound. He suddenly realized that Alex could start running into stuff like he did; he hadn't been watching where he was going and he ended up laying on the ground with a sore foot.

He looked around him and saw that his friends had disappeared.

_ Good thing I know where they're going, _ he thought as he began to limp to the chimpanzees habitat; every time he tried to put all his weight on his foot, pain shot through him, so he decided to favor it for now, and when he got back to his lab he could check out what’s wrong but he didn’t think it was broken. He hoped it wasn’t; he recalled the time Skipper had injured his flipper.

He felt slight amusement as he remembered that he and the others thought their leader was a zombie.  _ There's no such thing as zombies anyways, _ he told himself as he continued limping. He didn't want to go through all that again, so he prayed that his foot was only sore.

It took all his strength to jump over the walls of the chimps habitat, but once over it and on the platform, he joined his friends as they stood in front of Mason and Phil, who was reading the letter with each others' help.

Private turned to the strategist and then looked down at his foot, noticing that he was putting his weight on the other one while keeping his injured foot off the ground. “What happened?” he asked as he glanced up; Kowalski heard the deep concern in his voice.

When he said that Skipper and Rico turned to Kowalski, who tried to hide the pain on his face as he stood up straight, putting some of the weight on his injured foot, so it would look like he was fine; he was sure if Skipper saw that he was hurt, the leader would order him to go right back to HQ and rest, so he doesn't damage his foot anymore. Kowalski wanted to try to help Alex any way he could though and find out what was wrong with her.

“Nothing happened,” the smart penguin murmured. “I'm fine.” As much as he tried to, he couldn't keep his voice from shaking with pain.

“No, you're not.” Skipper eyed him, crossing his flippers on his chest. “You hurt your foot, didn't you?”

Kowalski held his leader's gaze for a long moment that seemed to stretch on for hours. Finally he sighed and lowered his eyes to his feet, lifting his injured one up so most of the pain would stop. “I tripped over a leg on one of the tables,” he explained, but added quickly as he turned back to his leader,” But I'm fine. It doesn't hurt that bad now.” He hated lying to his friends, but he knew that if he told the truth, they would just make him turn around and go back to HQ.

“I know you're lying, Kowalski,” the leader finally said. “But I'm going to allow you to stay...for now anyways. If your injury slows us down or gets worse, you're going to go back and rest. Got it?” He raised an eyebrow as he stared at Kowalski, his flippers still crossed.

Instantly Kowalski brightened up and nodded. “Okay, Skipper,” he agreed. “That sounds fair.”

“Um...I don't want to interrupt this moment or anything,” Mason said as he turned to the penguins, who all looked at the chimps. “But I believe I understand why Alex ran away.”

Skipper took a few steps closer to the tree that Mason and Phil were in. “What does the letter say, chimp?”

The two chimps exchanged a look mixed with worry and distressed, then turned back to the penguins. Mason opened his mouth, about to reply, when suddenly a voice called out,” Hey, penguins!”

Everybody turned around and saw the three lemurs jump into the habitat, running to the penguins. Julien looked around as if he was trying to find something; Kowalski knew exactly who he wanted to see.

“Where's Alex?” the king asked. “I am needing my other subject for a little bit.”

Skipper glared at the lemur, but before he could say anything, Kowalski limped in between them and said,” She's not here at the moment.” He disliked that Alex had promised to be Julien's subject as much as Skipper, if not more. But the last time he tried to talk her out of it, they got into a big fight that almost broke them up. He just has to accept that she wants to be part of Julien's kingdom for some reason.

Skipper, on the other hand, hated the idea of his daughter being the lemur's subject. Kowalski tried to get him to just let her do what she wanted, but every time he got a few words out, his leader would start yelling and glaring at him, and Kowalski would back down, running away from Skipper before he could attack him.

“Where is she then?” Maurice asked, walking to his king's side.

“We have no idea,” Private replied, earning a slap to the back of his head from Skipper. He turned confused eyes on his leader as he rubbed where he got slapped, but Skipper had turned his attention back to the lemurs.

“That’s none of your business,” he growled.

Julien walked over to Skipper, while the other two lemurs stayed where they were, watching their king. “This is being my business, bossy penguin.” He poked the leader's belly, making him stumble a little. “If it has to do with my subject, then it has to do with me.”

“For the last time, Ringtail, Alex is not–“

He was interrupted by Mason. “Excuse me,” the chimp called to everyone, and once he had their attention, he went on: “You really need to hear what this letter says.”

“Alright then.” Skipper shifted his weight and he folded his flippers across his chest again. “Read it.”


	2. A New Penguin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. But I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The chimp who could talk held up the letter so his friend could read it; Phil started using his hands to say something, and Mason began to speak.

“ _ Dear Alex _ ,” Mason said, and everyone listened to him intently. “ _ How have you been? The first few days here without you were kind of boring— _ “

“Skip down, chimp,” Skipper ordered Mason, who glanced at him, muttered “Right” and then he turned back to Phil, who started to read the letter in his head until he got half way through it. Then he began to use sign language to tell his friend what it said.

“ _ Jason wanted me to tell you that he's been thinking about you nonstop since you left. _ ”

Once again the chimp was interrupted, but this time it was by Kowalski and Julien who said at the same time,” Who the heck is Jason?”

Everyone turned to look at them, and Julien glanced away, while Kowalski lowered his gaze to his feet. Shifting positions, he winced at the sudden pain that shot up his leg. In a calmer voice, he said,” I mean, who's Jason? And why is he thinking about Alex?”

“Um… this might explain it,” Mason responded and all eyes turned back to him.

Shame washed over Kowalski. He didn't understand where that sudden burst of jealousy came from, but just hearing that someone else was thinking about his girlfriend in that way made him mad. It was bad enough that she likes hanging out with Julien; he didn’t need more competition.

“ _ Jason said that he can't wait until you get back, and that he still loves you _ ,” the chimp went on with the letter. “ _ If you ask me, I think he's finally lost it _ .”

“Well, it sounds like this Jason has a crush on Alex,” Skipper observed.

Kowalski didn't say anything, but he still felt jealous that someone else liked Alex. He tried to push it to the back of his mind, along with the awareness of the sharp pain in his foot, as he listened to Mason.

“But there's something else,” the chimp said. “Something that you ought to hear...” He exchanged a glance with Phil.

“What is it?” Private asked, while Rico leaned in eagerly. Even the lemurs seemed interested.

The chimp cleared his throat, then he watched as his friend started saying something with his hands. “ _ I wanted to tell you the other stuff, before I got to the bad news _ ,” Mason echoed his silent friend. “ _ I'm so sorry Alex, but Daisy is gone. She had gotten very sick about two months ago, and—“ _

“You can stop right there, chimp,” Skipper ordered, looking down. Kowalski limped to his leader and put his flipper on his back, trying to comfort him as much as he could. “Now we know why Alex ran off.” The tall penguin was surprised to hear Skipper's voice shake a little.

_ Is it possible that he still loved Daisy?  _ He frowned. Obviously Skipper still felt something for his former mate; Kowalski could tell by the deep sadness in his eyes as he stared down at the ground. While he was concerned for his leader, he was more worried about Alex, and he hoped she was safe wherever she was. She must feel like her world is coming to an end, having lost her mother who she left to find her father.

_ But at least she  _ still  _ has a father, _ he thought with a glance at Skipper, wondering if the tough penguin would be able to comfort his daughter and get her through this difficult time. Kowalski will try to do what he can, but he knows she will need her father more than anything right now.

No animal talked for a while, and Kowalski could feel tension as if everyone was worrying about Alex and mourning over Daisy, although nobody but Skipper knew her.

The silence was broken by Private, who yelled in surprise and started pointing. “Alice!” he told everyone. His friends turned to look and noticed that the zookeeper was heading straight to their habitat. The penguins had to get back, before the human noticed they weren’t there.

Instantly, they jumped out of the chimp habitat, leaving the lemurs to hurry back to their own exhibit before the zookeeper saw them outside of it. Kowalski swallowed a gasp, pain shooting up his leg as he hurried to keep up with the others.

They found a fast way back, hopping into the water and swimming to the island, where they climbed up a second before Alice arrived.

The zookeeper put a board down that would help her cross the water to the island. Kowalski noticed that she was holding a crate in her hands that made her unsteady and she almost fell into the water a few times, but she finally stepped onto the platform and put the box down. She took out a crowbar and opened it.

The four penguins looked into the darkness. Kowalski saw a shape laying in the box, but he couldn't see what it was, although he knew it had to be another penguin.

Alice didn't wait to see if the addition to the habitat would come out of the box. She started walking across the board again, and then took it with her as she walked away, leaving the penguins alone with their new habitat-mate.

Private was the first one to walk closer to the crate. His eyes tried to see the penguin inside more clearly. Then he offered him his flipper, while saying,” Hello there. I'm Private.”

The stranger lifted his head and stared at the young penguin, although because of the darkness Kowalski couldn't see his expression.

Then the new penguin stepped out of the box and shook itself. It wasn't until the penguin stared at the others that Kowalski saw that it was a girl. She was looking around with wonder in her eyes.

When she saw that Private was walking to her, her brow bent, and she took a few steps backwards, but the young penguin was still advancing, and with a sinking feeling, Kowalski saw that it was making the female bird nervous.

Then the new penguin got in a fighting position and kicked Private in the head as he came even closer. The blow sent the small penguin flying across the island, and he landed in the water. When he didn't surface, Skipper ordered Rico to go fetch him. The psychopath jumped into the water, leaving Skipper to glare at the female penguin.

“What is wrong with you?” Skipper demanded, walking closer to the new penguin.

The female penguin, still in the fighting position, blinked a few times but didn't say anything.

A heartbeat later, Rico jumped onto the island, carrying Private. He set the young penguin down on his stomach, and Kowalski heard him coughing up water. Then he struggled to his feet and stumbled over to the one who hit him; the female was still looking nervous, and she didn't put down her flippers as she watched Private walk to her.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, sounding very hurt.

The female penguin put down her flippers and looked at the boys in front of her. Then she said,” I'm sorry. I'm not used to being around other animals. I used to have a… group I lived in. But that didn’t end so well. This is the first zoo I’ve been in.”

“Well, I know you're going to love it here,” Private responded, the hurt gone from his voice, and a smile formed on his beak, while his eyes started to shine, probably thinking he could make a new friend, once she got used to being around others.

“So...” Kowalski took a step closer to the female, a little wary of her. There was just something about her that made him not sure he should trust her. “You have a name?”

She looked up at him, and he noticed that she too had a suspicious look in her eyes, like she was having trouble trusting the male penguins. “Victoria,” she replied simply, her eyes hard as she glanced around at the animals in front of her.

Pushing down his suspicion of the female penguin, Kowalski introduced himself. Then his friends told Victoria their names, but he noticed that Skipper didn't like the newcomer either.

“We were right in the middle of doing something important,” Skipper said once Victoria knew everyone's name. “It's classified though, so we can't tell you about it.” He smirked at the female penguin, like he was happy that he knew something that she didn't, but Victoria just shrugged.

“I don't care anyways,” the female penguin muttered. “I'm tired, so if you could show me where I’ll be sleeping, that would be much appreciated.” Her words sounded nice, but her voice had a harsh tone to them, and Kowalski narrowed his eyes at her.

Kowalski saw the edge of Skipper's beak twitch, but all the leader said to Victoria was,” Right.” Then he turned to the tall penguin and said,” You can take her in the lair.” He leaned closer and whispered to him so the female couldn't hear,” But don't let her go through our stuff.”

Kowalski was about to refuse, but he didn't want to say no exactly. “But Skipper,” he protested instead,” I want to go find Alex and check if she's okay.”

“We'll find her,” Skipper assured him. “Now do as you're told. And besides,” he added a little gentler,” you need to rest your foot.”

His injury hadn’t been in his mind until Skipper mentioned it. Now the pain suddenly rushed back in his foot, and he lifted it off the ground, which earned a look from his leader that said “Got ya”.

Kowalski sighed and muttered,” Fine.” Then he walked over to the bowl and pushed it aside, signaling to Victoria to follow him, which she did, although he saw that she was being cautious. Once inside, Kowalski carefully climbed down the ladder because now that he was thinking about it, his foot was really bothering him. He was sure it wasn’t broken but something was clearly wrong with it.

As he made his way to his lab, he said over his shoulder to Victoria,” I'm going to be in here, so if you need me, call. And please don't touch anything. The bunks are over there,” he added when he saw her looking around. “Or you can sleep on the couch. Whichever one you want.” Then he disappeared in his lab, going to check how bad his injury was. He could barely put weight on his foot.


	3. Emily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The park was quiet, and the sun was slowly setting, turning the sky a reddish color. Even though the sun hadn't vanished completely, an almost full moon floated in the growing-dark sky. Alex was walking under the branches of the trees that surrounded her, keeping to the shadows, so no one could see her. She wished the sun would hurry up and set, so it would be harder for her to be spotted. She knew her father and the others must be worried about her, but after finding out that her mother had died, she just suddenly felt like she needed to be alone.

Something hit her head, making her come to a halt and look up. However, when she lifted her eyes to the tree above her, pain shot through her as something hit her again. As she rubbed her sore head, she took a few steps forward, so whatever was falling couldn't collide with her again. She looked at the ground where she was just standing and saw two acorns by her feet. When she let her attention go back to the tree branch above her, another acorn fell, just barely missing Alex.

A bushy tail appeared from the leaves on the branch, and Alex instantly knew who it was but she wasn't sure if she should be happy to see this squirrel or not.

After letting out a soft sigh, Alex called up to him. “Fred!”

The tail vanished in the leaves for a moment, and a head popped out a heartbeat later, looking down at the penguin. “Oh, hello.” Fred let go of the branch he was hanging on, dropping to the next branch, where he sat and stared at Alex. He paused for a moment, before adding,” Do I know you?”

“We met a few months ago,” Alex replied, feeling slightly annoyed. She knew that this squirrel wasn't that smart. “I saw you a few days ago, when I was out with Skipper and his team.” Still, Fred looked lost, so Alex gave up. “Never mind. It doesn't matter,” she said, frowning deeply. “Nothing matters anymore.” Alex walked to the tree's trunk, and sat down in front of it, putting her back to it as she sighed miserably.

Fred jumped out of the tree, landing right next to Alex, who glanced at him as he sat down beside her. “Is something wrong?” Was that concern in his voice? Although Alex knew him, he seemed to have forgotten her, so she was wondering why he was feeling sorry for an almost complete stranger.

Without looking at him, she began to explain. “I had received this letter from a friend of mine from the zoo I used to live in. In the letter, she wrote that my mother had...” She paused and swallowed the bile that was choking her. Then she went on: “That my mother had passed away...” She let her voice trailed off.

Suddenly, the squirrel's eyes grew wide and filled up with sympathy and understanding. His tail wrapped around Alex's shoulder as he said,” I'm sorry.” He paused for a moment, before adding,” But these things happen.”

Alex was surprised when he said that. It didn't sound like a thing he would say, but she knew he was right. She knew a few animals that had died, but she never dreamed of her own mother dying. She guessed that nobody ever dreams of their family member or friend passing away. It was just a part of life, just like birth was. Suddenly she understood that there were three stages of life: Birth, living, and death. She felt even sadder at this realization. Her mother had told her about the Great Circle of Life, which didn’t just take place in the wild. It also affected zoo animals. She never truly understood that until now.

She was still aware that Fred was sitting beside her, his tail on her shoulder, staring at her with deep sadness and pity in his eyes. Alex didn't want his pity, though. She knew that he would still feel sorry for her, even if she told him not to, although she hated it when people looked at her the way he was looking at her now: big, round, sad eyes with nothing but pity in there.

Suddenly she felt like she needed comfort from her father. Would Skipper give it to her, though? Would he want to talk or would he want to forget about it? Alex realized that the only way to answer those questions was to find him and try to talk to him. After all, while Daisy was Alex's mother, she was Skipper's former mate. They were in this together.

She got to her feet and turned to Fred, who looked up at her. “I better go,” she announced as she looked up at the sky. By now the sun had set completely and the moon was slowly floating across the sky. Alex could see that it was almost high above the trees. She hadn't realized that she had been out this long. She knew that Skipper must be worried about her.

_ I better get back as fast as I can, _ she thought as she waved good-bye to Fred, who lifted his hand and waved back.

Then Alex started sliding to the zoo.

When the zoo entrance had come into view, she heard a twig snapped; she came to a halt and jumped to her feet, looking all around her, suddenly feeling eyes burning into her skin. She turned sharply when she heard something move in a bush. Every muscle inside her tensed, she began walking toward the moving bush, not taking her eyes off of it.

Something touched her shoulder, and she spun around, about to hit whatever had grabbed onto her, but she relaxed when she came eye to eye with her father.

“Are you okay?” Skipper asked, his voice the gentlest she’s ever heard it before.

Alex was about to reply, but something inside her head was taunting her, saying over and over that her mother was gone, and she would never see her again or hear her voice or be comforted by her when she’s scared or sad. Before she could do anything, she felt tears rolling down her cheek. She didn't want to cry. She always thought of it as a weakness, and that if she cried in front of people, they would make fun of her or tell her that she was a cry baby.

A heartbeat later, the female penguin hugged Skipper, suddenly grateful that she still had her father. She knew that he didn't like getting too emotional either, but she felt him hug her back, and she even felt something wet and hot drop on her shoulder. She pulled away from him and saw that her father, the tough leader Skipper, was crying. For some reason, though, she felt reassured by the way the older penguin was acting. She was glad that he knew how she felt.

As soon as Alex had pulled away from him, though, Skipper wrapped away the tears and said in a commanding tone,” You better come back to the zoo.” Alex guessed that he was trying to act tough again, and she respected him even more for that. She then realized how much they had in common.

Nodding, Alex replied,” Alright. I just needed some time alone.” She followed her father to the zoo. “Then I suddenly felt like I needed to be around my friends.”

“I know how you feel, Alex.” Skipper came to a halt and forced his daughter to stop as well. “I still loved Daisy when I left, and I thought I'd come back, but when I didn't, I pushed those feelings to the back of my mind. When the chimps read us the note and told us that Daisy was gone, I knew I had made a big mistake.” He sighed and looked down for a few moments, before looking back up at his daughter. “But sadly, these things happen.”

Alex widened her eyes when she heard her father echo what Fred had told her earlier. She smiled and hugged her father; somehow his words comforted her. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” Skipper responded. “That's what a father is for.” He pulled away first, but he put his flippers on Alex's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I've finally realized what being a father means.” He hugged Alex again and murmured in her ear,” I love you, Alex.”

Alex hugged him back and replied,” I love you, too.”

They began walking to the zoo again. When they got to the entrance, Private and Rico appeared from a bush, stepping in front of the two penguins.

“Yay, Skippah, you found her!” Private cheered, running to Alex and hugging her. There was something about his hug that made her mad. Maybe she’d had enough hugging for one day? Or was it that she only wanted her father to hug her, since they were related? She realized that she knew the other three penguins for as long as she knew Skipper, but she felt more comfortable around him since he was her father. She even felt a little uncomfortable around Kowalski sometimes.

She pulled away from Private, but before she could say anything to him, she heard something move behind her. It sounded like what she heard before her father had found her: Something moving in the bushes.

The other penguins seemed to have heard it too, because Skipper turned around and looked all over the area, but he gave no sign of seeing anything. Private looked from side to side, his eyes as wide as possible, while Rico got a hard look on his face and coughed up a stick of TNT. To Alex's surprise, the psychopath lit the bomb and smiled wickedly.

When he saw what his teammate had coughed up, Skipper licked his flipper and put out the fire. “Enough with the TNT, Rico,” the leader ordered, which made the crazy bird grunt sadly and lower the stick with his head hung low.

Alex kind of felt bad for him. She knew that he loved explosives and tried to use them as much as he could, but his friends always stopped him, most of the time, when they didn't need it.

When the penguins had heard the rustling, it had got quiet, and Alex could see that the silence was getting to the others. It was also bugging her. She knew something was out there, watching them, waiting for them to move on, so it could most likely jump on them and attack them. Alex got in a fighting position, looking around. Her eyes landed on a bush she could see in the moonlight slowly moving, although there wasn't a breeze to disturb it.

She began to walk over to it, aware that Skipper was calling to her, telling her to come back. She ignored him, though, wanting to see who or what this creature was.

Alex stopped in front of it, took a deep breath, and then she parted the leaves. Staring down she let out a surprised gasp when she saw what was hiding in the bush. She widened her eyes and stumbled backwards.

The other three penguins ran to her; Skipper helped her to her feet, while Private waddled over to the bush, and, very slowly, he parted the leaves, but instead of jumping back, he said to the creature inside,” Hello there. What are you doing here? In a bush?”

The bush started moving again and the creature stood up, revealing itself. Alex blinked a few times. Standing in front of her, still in the bush, was a female lemur with a ring tail. She looked a lot like King Julien, except with big, bright green eyes.

Alex heard Skipper sigh and murmured,” Not another one.”

The lemur got out of the bush and stopped next to Alex, but she seemed to be talking to Skipper when she began to speak. “Do you know a lemur called King Julien?” she asked.

It was Private who answered. “Yes, we know him. Do you know him?”

“Yes,” the lemur replied. “Could you take me to him?”

At first, Skipper seemed like he wanted to say no, but in the end, he nodded and said,” Follow us.”

* * *

Back at the zoo, in the lemur habitat, the king sat on his throne, listening to his MP3 Player; he was enjoying hearing nothing but the songs he got used to over the months. He let out a soundless sigh as he leaned into the tall chair. He was right in the middle of one of his favorite songs, “Mean” by Taylor Swift. He couldn't hear anything else but the song, but he had told Maurice and Mort to leave him alone for the rest of the night.

Normally he would be dancing right about now, since it was nighttime, but since he got the MP3 Player, he's been listening to his songs by the headphones. With the help of Kowalski and Alex, and even Mort, he had learned how to use it, and now he liked it better than his boomy-box.

Right now music only played; it played for a few seconds, until finally Taylor Swift started to sing again. Julien pushed himself into a more comfortable position. This was his favorite part in the song.

Just then three of the male penguins and Alex jumped into his habitat, doing flips and landing in front of Julien's throne; the king jumped up, pushing the pause button on his MP3 Player. He then jumped off the chair and ran to Alex, hugging her and saying,” I'm glad to see that you are being safe, subject.”

Alex hugged him back and said,” Of course, my king.” Skipper pushed the lemur off his daughter before she could say anything else.

The king stumbled over to his throne, hitting it, and his MP3 Player fell out of his hand. He quickly took off his headphones and got to his feet, but before he could make a mean comment to the lead penguin, Skipper rolled his eyes and announced,” We found a friend of yours, Ringtail.”

“Huh?” Julien forgot about his anger toward the penguin when he started to wonder what he meant.

At the same moment, Maurice and Mort jumped onto the platform and walked over to their king, but they stared at the penguins in confusion, too.

Instead of answering, Skipper just turned his back on the lemurs and called out,” Okay, you can come up here now!”

Everyone fell quiet. Julien narrowed his eyes when he saw someone jump into his habitat. The ring tail king widened his eyes when he saw who it was as she climbed onto the platform. He had thought he had seen the last of her when he left Madagascar.

Yet here she stood in front of him, staring at him with those same big, bright green eyes he had missed since he left his home island.

“Emily!” gasped Julien.


	4. Bad News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

Emily took a step closer to her king. “Have you missed me?” she asked as a smile formed on her face, while she stared at Julien, who found himself getting excited.

“Of course I have,” he replied, taking a step toward the lemur he used to love–and might still love. He had forgotten everyone else around him but himself and Emily, until Maurice took a step forward, which brought him to his king's side, and he blinked as he looked at Emily.

“How did you find us?” the aye-aye asked her.

The female lemur looked down at her gray feet and studied them without replying. The look in her eyes told Julien that she didn't want to talk about her journey in front of so many people, so he made a mental note to ask her about it when they were alone. It had been a long, long time since the king had last seen Emily, and he wanted to get her alone the first chance he got; he had pushed all the feelings he felt for her to the back of his mind, believing he would never see her again. As soon as his eyes landed on her, those feelings were sent to the front of his brain, and now he couldn't stop himself from loving her again.

Seeing that everyone has tensed, waiting for Julien to say or do something, the king pushed all those feelings to the back of his mind, although it took a lot more strength than he thought it would. “Never mind her adventure, Maurice,” he finally said, and he mentally slapped himself when he heard his voice crack.

Clearing his throat, he added in a calmer tone,” What really matters is that she is getting some rest.” He walked to Emily's side and grabbed her hand, pulling her to the edge of the platform. “You must be exhausted, journeying all the way from Madagascar.”

To his surprise, Emily pulled away from him, coming to a halt. “No, I'm fine,” she assured him.”I found a tree to sleep in when I was walking through the park. I had waited until the sun went down, so no human would see me, and because I knew the zoo would be closed once the sun sets.”

Suddenly Julien was curious, wanting to know more, but he forced himself to not ask any questions. He decided to wait until the penguins left his habitat. Then he could order Maurice and Mort to leave him and Emily alone, while they talked.

“Alright then,” Julien murmured. “As long as you're not being sleepy or need to be resting.” He tried to shake off his own exhaustion as he stood in front of Emily. He had a feeling tonight was going to be a long night, and he didn't think he'd be able to get sleep anytime soon.

Emily sighed, but instead of annoyance in her eyes, there was amusement as she blinked gently at the king; Julien guessed that she understood why he was worrying about her.

Julien cleared his throat again, and he calmed himself as he turned back to the penguins. “Thanks for bringing her to me,” he told them. “It means a lot to me, but it's time for you all to be leaving.” He started pushing the penguins away.

Alex instantly dipped her head and murmured,” Yes, my king.” She helped Julien push her friends away. Skipper glared at the king when he put his hands on him, and he knocked him off, growling at him.

“We're going!” he told him. Then he turned on his daughter, ordering,” Stop listening to him!”

Alex opened her mouth as if to give him a sharp retort, but Julien didn't have time for this, so he gave his penguin subject a glare, and she immediately shut her beak.

Rico and Private glanced at the daughter and father, until Skipper ordered them to leave the habitat, and they disappeared over the wall. Julien noticed Alex glance at him, as if waiting for an order, but before he could give her one, Skipper told her,” Back to the lair...Now!”

Sighing, Alex turned away from the king and did flips over the wall. Skipper glared at Julien before following his daughter.

Julien found himself standing on the platform, staring after the penguins. He was aware of Emily beside him, confused about what just happened, but he didn't want to explain to her just now about the whole situation with Alex. Shaking his head a little to clear it and hoping to get rid of some of his sleepiness, he turned to the female lemur.

“Be coming, Emily,” he said, making sure that it wasn't obvious that he was stressed thanks to that lead penguin. “If you want, I could be showing you around the zoo. Starting with my kingly habitat.”

The look the female lemur gave Julien was full of pleasure, warming him and making him feel better. “I would like that,” she said in a soft voice as she intertwined her hand with his.

Julien looked down at their hands, and he felt hotness overtake him from head to toe. Clearing his throat, he said,” Come on.” He began to walk away, only to stop, making Emily come to a halt as well. “This is my throne,” he announced, pointing to the tall chair. “And that over there is being my bouncy castle.” He pointed to it, then turned to where the bar was. “And that's where Maurice is making all my smoothies.” He began to show her the rest of the habitat, trying to not let Skipper's attitude ruin his time with Emily.

* * *

“And this is being where animals and other stuff are shipped out of the zoo and received.” Julien and Emily stood in front of the entrance to the loading area. In the darkness, the king could see a few boxes, but other than that it was empty.

As he stared in the darkness, he found his mind wandering to Alex. He didn't understand why Skipper couldn't just let her be his subject and why he got mad every time he told her to do something.  _ It's no different than him ordering his team around!  _ the king reflected.

“Your Majesty?”

Emily's voice brought Julien back to where he stood in the shipping and receiving area, and he shook his head to clear it as she went on.

“Are you okay?” she asked the ring tail, putting her hand on his shoulder, but she quickly pulled it away when he glanced down at it. “Sorry,” she muttered as she bowed her head and took a step back.

Julien frowned, realizing that she still saw him as a king and nothing more. He wanted her to treat him more than just a king, but he wasn't entirely sure what. He knew he didn't want her to bow down or apologize every time she touched him.

When the king didn't answer her question, she repeated it; this time Julien heard the concern in her voice, and her eyes shined with confusion.

“I'm fine,” Julien lied, wanting it to be true as much as Emily thought it was, if she believed him, that is. Desperate to change the subject, he saw this was the best time to question her about her arrival.

“So, Emily...” He shifted his feet, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He had thought about the words he would use to ask her this question the whole time he was showing her around the zoo, knowing all along that he was going to take her to the shipping and receiving area last, because it was in the back of the zoo.

Although looking at her now, all the words escaped his mind and he couldn't remember what he was going to ask her.

Emily blinked, the confusion still in her eyes, as she looked at Julien, who glanced at her. Sighing, he figured it was best to just say the first thing that came to his mind and get it over with.

“What are you doing here, in New York, and not in Madagascar?” he finally asked her, and as soon as he was done talking, her eyes suddenly filled with sadness, the confusion washed away by the sudden sorrowfulness. He didn't understand. Why would her emotions change so fast after he asked her one single question?

Looking away, Emily sighed miserably. Then she turned back, the sadness in her eyes increased. It was a few minutes until she replied,” Madagascar is in trouble.”


	5. Trouble on Madagascar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The sun was shining, making the water sparkle, as it lapped at the sand of the Madagascar beach. Clouds drifted across the blue sky, and the wind was starting to pick up, causing the leaves on the trees to dance. Suddenly the wind stopped, but one of the tree's branches was still moving as a dark shadow moved from tree to tree. Another shadow followed it. The leaves on the trees hid the two creatures. They seemed to be heading for the sand.

A heartbeat later, the animal in the lead came to a halt, only visible by the holes between the leaves. The other one stopped beside it. They prick their ears as if they were listening for something. Then one of them whispered to its companion,” I think it's safe. They hardly come out this close to the water.”

The other creature nodded its head and then flicked its black tail to signal its friend that they should keep going. The beach was only a few trees away.

Finally, they burst out of the trees, and for the first time they showed themselves as they jumped down to the sand below. They were both lemurs. One of them, the one in the lead, had an orange front side, and his back, hands, arms, feet, and tail was black. Around his eyes was also black. The other one was a gray lemur with a gray-and-black ring tail.

“We should be safe here,” the black-and-orange one said as he walked toward the water, leaving the shelter of the jungle behind. He really didn't like being in the open, but he knew it was better than having to look over his shoulder every time he was under the trees.

The ring tail lemur ran after her friend, looking around as if she believed the opposite. There was a look in her eyes that showed that she believed there was nowhere on the island that they were safe. She was so busy looking around that she forgot to keep an eye on where she was going, and she ran into the other lemur.

The male animal turned to her and snapped,” Watch where you're going, Lilian!”

Lilian took a step back, looking up at the taller lemur. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I was just thinking that they could be watching us from the trees.” She pointed to the jungle.

The black-and-orange creature leaned closer to her and growled,” Of course they are watching. Dark has made sure that they watch everyone. If you ask me,” he added in a lower voice,” he's afraid that one of us will see that he's nothing but a bully who takes pressure in making animals suffer and that we'll try to take control from him. He's nothing but a pussy cat.”

The female lemur gasped and looked around, wide eyed. “Weasel!” she breathed in a hushed voice as she turned her scared yellow eyes on her friend. “You know that one of Dark's cats will go straight to him if they hear you say that, and then Dark will come hunt you down and then—“ She broke off and stared up at him pleadingly, silently begging him to be careful.

Weasel snorted and said darkly,” There's nothing else he could do to me. He already exiled my parents, and Elizabeth has gone to his side and some of the others went with her. I don’t understand why they think it would be safer to follow Dark.”

“I suppose they think that if they join him, he wouldn't hurt them. Including your sister,” Lilian added when Weasel turned to her with eyes that showed both sadness and anger. “I know you feel betrayed, Weasel, but you have to remember: That's why Emily left. She's going to bring back the king. Perhaps he will know what to do about Dark.”

Weasel sighed and turned away from his friend. He looked back at the woods and saw eyes watching them. Had they heard what the two lemurs said? There was something inside Weasel that hoped they didn't, but the rest of him couldn't careless. He hated Dark and all the other cats that had taken over the lemur kingdom. He remembered the first time they had come to the island.

They had stowaway on a shipping boat; Weasel wasn't sure if Dark and his cats knew where the boat was going, but they ended up here. At first they seemed nice, but as soon as Dark found out there was nobody ruling over the lemurs, he decided that he would be their leader. Most lemurs refused to follow him, so he had to show them that he wasn't playing.

He used a few lemurs as an example, attacking them in front of their friends, then exiling them to the far side of the island. Weasel’s parents were among them and he has just about lost the hope of ever seeing them again.

A few days after their parents were exiled, Weasel's sister, Elizabeth, had said that she was going to go to Dark and ask him if she could join him. Weasel couldn't believe that his own sister would betray him like that. He knew she enjoyed fighting but he never thought she would turn against her family and friends. Apparently he was wrong.

Something touched the black-and-orange lemur's shoulder, and he turned to see Lilian looking up at him with a tiny sparkle of hope in her yellow eyes. “Don't worry, Weasel,” she said. “I'm sure Emily will be back with King Julien. He'll have a plan. We just have to keep hoping they will be back soon.”

“Brave words, lemur.”

The two lemurs spun around and saw four cats stalking out of the trees, walking to them. Within a couple of heartbeats, they circled the friends. The one who had spoken, a dark striped brown tabby tom, stopped in front of Lilian and put his head close to her face. Before he could say anything, Weasel pushed his friend backwards and stood his ground, protecting the younger lemur.

The striped tabby bared his teeth at the male lemur. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but one of the other cats growled,” Let's take them to Dark, Tiger. Apparently they haven't learned that he's the leader here.” The cat who had spoken to Tiger, a black tom, flicked his tail from side to side as he crouched in the sand, staring at the two lemurs with hostility in his amber eyes, which narrowed as he looked on.

“Shh, Blacky!” Tiger snapped. “But we will take them to Dark,” he added as he looked at the lemurs.

The other two cats immediately pushed the lemurs followed, making them stumble, but they regained their footing, and followed Tiger and Blacky, while the other cats brought up the rear, making sure their prisoners didn't escape. All the animals went back into the forest, soon disappearing behind the leaves and bushes.


	6. Begging for Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

Alex dropped into the lair, landing in front of the ladder. She felt angry at how her father always reacted when she tried to take orders from her king. She didn't understand why Skipper couldn't just let her keep the promise she made to the king about her always being his loyal subject. She never broke a promise, but thanks to her father she was breaking this one.

Trying not to think about her father or Julien, the young penguin waddle farther into the lair, jumping over the steps in front of the bunks. She had a feeling that Kowalski was in his lab, and she needed someone to talk to, so she began to walk toward the door.

When she was almost there, she heard snoring, and she turned around sharply. She saw a penguin sleeping on the couch. Instantly, Alex got in a fighting position, and, as fast as she could, without making a sound, she made her way over to the couch. When she got there, she popped her head up so she could look down on the sleeping penguin.

_ Who is this? An intruder? Why are they sleeping in our HQ? _

Finding it hard to answer any of those questions, Alex jumped into the air, flipped over the couch and landed on the other side. She studied the trespasser.

It was a female penguin, and Alex could tell that the sleeping animal was much older than her, but that didn't matter. She was infiltrating the penguins' lair!

Not caring how the older penguin would react when she was woken, Alex grabbed onto her foot and dragged her off the couch, throwing her on the floor and pinning her down.

The penguin let out a startled squeak as she hit the ground, but Alex didn't take pity on her. She put her face close to the invader's and growled,” What are you doing, sleeping in this lair? Nobody is allowed in here but Skipper and his team.”

“I-I'm new he-here,” the penguin stammered, trying to get up. She looked at Alex with wide, scared eyes.

“Yeah, right.” Alex rolled her eyes, not believing a word this invader was saying. “We would have heard if there was another penguin coming to the Central Park Zoo.”

The penguin tried to speak again, but just then a scream filled the lair. “Alex!”

A heartbeat later, something was pulling Alex off of the invading penguin.

Angrily, Alex turned around and came face to face with her boyfriend. “Why did you do that, Kowalski?” she snapped, glaring at him. “She's an invader! She got in here somehow.”

“No, she's not an invader,” Kowalski informed her. “She's a new penguin. Alice just brought her here. Calm down, Alex,” he added, placing his flipper on her shoulder. “Everything is okay.”

Alex shook her head, and sadness filled her. She had been so upset about losing her mother, and then her dad yelled at her when she was only obeying her king which upset her more; she felt like she had to take her anger out on  _ someone _ . And when she saw the new penguin, her mind told her that she was an enemy. Normally, she wouldn’t go around jumping on strangers like that.

“No, Kowalski,” she whispered as she lowered her eyes to her feet. “Nothing's okay. It's all gone wrong.” Looking up again, she saw sympathy in his blue eyes.

“I'm sorry about your mother.” He hugged her; Alex suddenly felt like pouring out everything to him. She had a feeling that he would listen to her, and try to make her feel better, like all the other times he comforted her.

Alex was about to say something, but for the first time she noticed that her boyfriend was favoring one foot and hardly putting any weight on the other. She looked back up at Kowalski and asked in a concerned voice,” What happened to your foot?”

“Oh, that,” Kowalski murmured as he looked down. He sounded surprised as if he didn't want Alex to notice. “I had tripped over a table leg earlier,” he explained. “It's fine. I checked. It's not broken, just sore.” He didn't look at Alex though.

She wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.

Suddenly the other penguin stepped forward, in between Alex and Kowalski. Alex took a step back, still not sure if she should trust this unknown animal.

To Alex's surprise, the female penguin held out her flipper, saying,” Hey, I'm Victoria.”

“My name is Alex,” she announced as she eyed the penguin. There was something odd about her, something that told Alex that it was a bad idea to trust her. She saw Kowalski looking at her, and she knew he was thinking the same thing, but he just shrugged. She could see that Kowalski was trying to force himself to like this penguin, and she guessed she had to do the same.

“It's nice to meet you,” she murmured. “I'm sorry I attacked you.”

Again she was surprised, when Victoria laughed and replied,” It's alright. You thought your home was in danger, so you did what your instinct told you to do. I admire that.” She smiled as she looked at Alex.

Alex felt warm by her words.  _ Maybe I can trust her after all,  _ she thought as she pushed the nagging feeling that was telling her to not welcome this stranger to the back of her mind.

Just then the hatch opened, and Skipper and the other two started climbing down the ladder. When she saw her father, Alex told Victoria and Kowalski to excuse her, before she went over to Skipper. She wanted to tell her father off for his behavior earlier in the lemur habitat, but she stopped as soon as she saw the look on his face. There was something in his eyes that made her start to think something was wrong.

When Skipper saw his daughter, the look vanished to be replaced with a kind expression. He nodded to her and put his flipper on her shoulder, as if to say that their fight was forgotten. Then he waddled over to Kowalski. He whispered to him, and the smart penguin widened his eyes. Alex saw him murmur something back in a quiet voice, in which Skipper replied instantly, but they were talking too quiet and Alex couldn't hear them. She wondered what they could be talking about, but she stayed where she was, with Private and Rico on either side of her, looking at their leader and Kowalski.

Victoria walked over to Alex and whispered to her,” Who's Ringtail?”

_ Ringtail?  _ Alex questioned in her head, at first confused. Then she understood who Victoria was talking about. “Oh, you mean King Julien. Skipper calls him Ringtail, because he’s a ring tailed lemur,” she explained. “Anyways, he's the king of lemurs and he lives in the habitat next to ours.”

“A king, huh?” Victoria rubbed the bottom of her beak as if lost in thought.

Alex nodded, and turned her attention back to her father and boyfriend, trying not to worry about the new penguin. A heartbeat later, Skipper turned to the others, and Alex took a step toward him.

“What's going on?” she demanded.

The leader looked her in the eyes. “Nothing important,” he replied. “It doesn't have to do with us, so we don't have to worry about it.”

“But Skippah,” protested Private,” we have to do something! We just can't stand by and let whatever is happening on—“

But Skipper interrupted him, telling him to be quiet. The young penguin seemed to take his words to heart and shut his beak tightly, covering it with his flipper.

Alex looked at her father, then at Private, and then back again, confused. Before she could say anything, Skipper added,'' Again, it's nothing. And besides, if I was thinking about helping, there's no way to get there.” He shrugged as if he couldn't care less.

“Actually, Skipper, there is a way,” Kowalski said as he lifted his flipper, but Skipper grabbed it and pushed it down, growling,” No. There's no way to help them.”

“Dad,” Alex said,” what are you talking about?”

Before he could reply, the hatch opened and a voice called from above,” Hey, penguins! I need your help!”

Everyone turned and looked up. Alex saw Julien looking down in the lair, Emily beside him. The ring tail lemur opened his mouth, about to add something, but just then his hand, which was on the very edge of the hole, slipped, causing him to fall into the lair. Emily reached forward to try to catch him; she grabbed onto his tail, but Alex could see that she was having trouble holding onto the king and that her hand was slipping. Emily tried to pull her king back up, but her feet got too close to the edge.

Alex gasped and ran to try to save the king from the fall, but she was too slow. She watched in horror as the two lemurs fell onto the hard floor, landing on each other. Julien groaned as he gently pushed Emily off him. Then he stood up, shaking his head, pain and worry in his eyes.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?” she asked, looking him up and down.

He didn't answer, and ran right past her without even noticing her, going straight to Skipper. The king forgot to jump over the steps, though, and he crashed right into the lead penguin. Alex winced and closed her eyes, opening them again a moment later, wondering what was wrong with her king.

Skipper pushed the ring tail lemur off him; as he stood up, anger flashed in his ice blue eyes. “What is the matter with you, Ringtail?” he snapped as he watched the lemur get to his feet.

Julien fell to his knees a heartbeat later, looking at Skipper eye to eye as he put his hands on the penguin's shoulders. “You have to be helping me! Please, please,  _ please _ !”

Skipper pushed the lemur away from him and said in a hard tone,” No.”

“But why?” Julien pressed as he jumped back at his feet, crossing his arms and staring down at the penguin. “My home sweet home is in serious danger! You are needing to be helping me!”

“I don't need to do anything!” Skipper retorted as he turned his back on the lemur, and started walking away. His hatred of the king was obviously getting in the way of doing the right thing.

Alex ran in front of her father, making him come to a halt. “But, dad,” she said in a low voice,” I thought you and the others helped any animal in trouble.”

“Not when they’re lemurs,” the leader growled, glaring at the king.

“But Skippah,” added Private as he walked over to them,” we've helped them before.”

Skipper looked at him, then at Alex, and back again. He sighed and muttered,” I suppose I can't sit back and do nothing to help the lemurs of Madagascar, no matter my feelings toward Ringtail.”

Suddenly Emily took a step closer and asked,” How did you know Madagascar was in trouble?”

Skipper turned to her and replied,” Rico, Private, and I were following you and Ringtail around the zoo. But after we heard you tell Ringtail about an evil cat taking over your home, I knew you would come to us for help so we beat you back here.”

“You mean you were spying on us?” Julien stepped forward. His pleading tone changed to anger as he glared at Skipper.

“What we do is for the best,” Skipper said calmly. “I had a feeling that we had to watch you for a little while.” He glanced at Emily, and Alex could see that he didn't trust her one bit. The young penguin looked at Victoria for a moment, remembering her distrust of her, then turned back to her father.

_ I suppose that's something we have in common: we both have trust issues. _

“So, you’ll be helping us?” Julien was pleading again as if he forgot his anger about the penguins spying on him and Emily.

Skipper sighed and nodded. “Yes, Ringtail. We'll help you. But you have to remember,” he added,” this is your battle, not ours. I’m not putting my team in unnecessary danger.” He rubbed the bottom of his beak as if lost in thought. “But how will we get to Madagascar?”

“I have an idea, Skipper,” Kowalski spoke up as he limped toward his leader. “But we have to ask the chimps for help.”

Everyone turned to him, and Skipper dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Let's go,” he declared as he walked to the ladder. “We can't waste any time.” The other animals followed him, but Alex saw that Kowalski was still limping pretty bad, so she took him aside before he could go up the ladder.

“Are you fit to do this?” she asked, aware that there was deep concern in her voice.

“I'm fine,” he assured her.

Realizing that her boyfriend wouldn't admit if he was in serious pain, Alex sighed and nodded. “Alright,” she muttered. “But if I see you limping any worse, I'll tell Skipper that you need to sit this one out.”

They held each other gazes for a few moments; Alex was aware that they were the ones in the lair now.

Kowalski was the first one to look away. “Okay,” he agreed. “Let's go topside, before they start to wonder what happened to us.”

Alex smiled and stretched on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. Then they followed the others out of the lair.


	7. Traveling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

“Here.” Julien dropped the fruits he was carrying in front of Skipper, who looked up at him. But instead of saying anything, the leader bent down and picked up a grapefruit. He studied it, and then nodded to Julien; the ring tail lemur just stared at him, knowing he was telling him to do something but not wanting to talk for some reason. The king blinked slowly.

Skipper sighed and murmured,” Thanks, Ringtail. You can go now.” He dropped the fruit on top of the pile.

Julien stayed where he was as he looked around for his penguin subject.

The zoo animals were just outside the shipping and receiving area, and Julien could see the sun coming up over the buildings. The king fought against a yawn. They had been up all night, getting ready for their journey.

Just then Emily appeared at the entrance and started walking toward Skipper. She, too, carried fruit, which she dropped at Skipper's feet. A heartbeat later, Maurice and Mort came back, also holding some fruits.

When they got to Skipper and dropped their load in front of the leader, the penguin said,” I think that will be enough.” A large pile of fruit was in front of his feet now. The four lemurs had gone to the reptile house to collect all the fruits they could.

Julien had suggested that they should try and steal some bananas from the gorillas, at which Maurice gasped, while Mort jumped up and down, declaring that that was a great idea, before adding that his king always had great ideas. Emily, however, had just stared at Julien, then shrugged and said that she had no idea where anything was, so she was just gonna follow the other lemurs.

After that, they passed the reptile house, heading to Bada's and Bing's habitat. Julien knew that he couldn't get caught, so he stayed hidden as he made his way to a big pile of bananas. It wasn't until he was almost there that the gorillas knew he was in their habitat. They had turned to him, grabbed him, and lifted him up. One of them held onto his head, hurting him very badly. Julien was well aware that if they squeeze him just a little, they could easily smash his head. But he was frozen in fear, staring at the two much larger animals.

“What's yous doing in our habitat?” the gorilla that was holding onto Julien demanded as he looked at the king.

But before Julien could say anything, the other one said to his friend,” Let's teach this lemur a lesson.”

The gorilla agreed, then used his other hand to grab onto Julien's tail, stretching his body. Pain shot through him; then the huge animal let go of him, sending him flying across the zoo.

The next thing the king knew he was laying in a tree. He stood up, rubbing his head. Looking down, he realized that he was in Joey's habitat. Luckily the kangaroo was fast asleep. Julien looked and saw that the sun was starting to rise. He had to get out of here, before he woke up.

The ring tail lemur had walked to the end of the branch he was in, jumped onto the wall, and hopped to the ground. As soon as his feet had touched the ground, the other lemurs appeared.

There had been worry in Emily's eyes, and she had asked if he was okay. Although his whole body was hurting, he had said that he was fine. Then he had said maybe it was a good idea to just collect the fruits from the reptile house after all.

All this had only happened a few minutes ago. Since that time, the sky has grown even lighter and the sun was visible as it slowly inched its way across the sky.

When Julien thought about what happened to him, he noticed that his whole body still ached, but he tried to hide it from the others.

Just then a thought popped in his head. He looked around, hoping the others didn't need his help. Skipper, Private, and Rico were busy loading a crate with the fruits the lemurs had brought them, while Maurice and Mort stood around, looking restless and uneasy. He even saw the new penguin looking around as if she wasn't sure what to do. He had noticed her talking to Skipper earlier, but he didn't hear what they were talking about.

Emily walked over to Julien and asked,” You okay?”

Julien nodded. “I'm fine,” he replied. “But I am needing to get something from my kingly habitat. I'll be back as fast as I can. Make sure no one is leaving without me.”

Emily nodded as the ring tail king turned around and dashed off, passing Kowalski and Alex, who were just walking through the entrance.

“I think you should stay here,” Kowalski said to Alex. He was carrying a box, and it was making him unsteady, but he made sure he watched where he was going. Besides, he was too worried about Alex to notice the weight in his flippers. He glanced at her; she was looking straight ahead, and it was a while until she replied.

“I can handle anything you and the others can.” Her voice was filled with annoyance, but Kowalski could see a sparkle of amusement in her eyes as she stared ahead of her.

But the strategist didn't have time to reply to her, for Skipper appeared in front of them; the leader took the box from his teammate and sat it down. He opened it, and the smell of fish touched Kowalski's nose. He suddenly felt hungry, but he knew he couldn't eat any just yet. This was for the journey.

“You got the tags?” Skipper asked.

Kowalski nodded and handed his leader the two tags.

“Did you set up the penguin toys and the robots for the lemur habitat?”

Once again the tall penguin nodded.

“And you put an extra toy out for the new recruit?” He pointed to Victoria.

Kowalski nodded but he felt like he had to say something. “Why does she have to come, sir?” he ventured.

Skipper narrowed his eyes and Kowalski gulped, afraid he’d stepped over a line. “Because we can’t trust her here by herself in  _ our _ HQ. It could all be a trick to learn our secrets. I don’t want her out of my sight. Besides,” he added,” she said she might be able to help us.”

Kowalski wanted to snort but he held it in. He didn’t believe this new penguin could help them in any way but he decided not to say anything.

He watched as his leader pulled the box over to a crate, calling to Rico, who quickly joined his leader. The penguin ordered something, and the crazy one coughed up a crowbar. Skipper opened the crate and started pouring the fish inside it. Then he jumped to the ground and slapped the shipping tag on the side of it. Then he ran over to another crate and put the other tag on it.

“Alright,” he announced as he turned to the other animals. “I think we're all set.”

“Wait!” a voice yelled from behind Kowalski.

Kowalski turned around and saw Julien running toward his friends. The ring tail lemur came to a halt, panting.

“Ringtail?” Skipper questioned, sounding confused. “Where did you go?”

“I had to get my music thingy,” the king panted as he held up his MP3 Player.

“Okay,” the leader said slowly. Then he shook his head and went on to everyone,” You lemurs are going to be in the crate with the fruits, while the rest of us are going to be in the other one.”

“Why did we need to get the fruits anyways?” Maurice asked.

“The humans can't know that we left, so we had to fill the crates up with something that they could ship to Madagascar,” Kowalski explained, feeling proud that he was so smart. Everyone turned to him as he went on. “That's why I put toy dolls in our habitat, and I made robot lemurs and put them in your habitat. No human should know that we left.”

Everyone seemed to understand now, so Skipper said,” Come on, let's get in the crates, before Alice or someone else comes by.”

The penguins and lemurs split up, going to the crate they were supposed to travel in.

Kowalski saw Maurice, Mort, and Emily hop into their crate without hesitation, but Julien turned to the penguins before joining his subjects. He glanced down at his MP3 before looking at Alex. Kowalski knew what he wanted to ask, and he decided to just leave it between the king and Skipper.

“Hey, Alex,” he began,” you want to ride with us, so you can tell me what songs are on this?” He pointed to his music player.

Alex opened her beak to reply, but suddenly Skipper pushed her farther into the crate, right into Kowalski. He smiled shyly at her and murmured,” I'm sorry, but you know how your dad can be.” He kissed her on the cheek, hoping to cheer her up. She smiled at him, but she still seemed a little upset. She didn't say anything, though.

“She isn't going to ride with you, Ringtail,” Skipper growl. “She's not your subject.”

Before Kowalski could stop her, Alex took a step toward her father. “I'll ride with you and the others, but let me help the king find a song when he needs me to,” she pleaded.

Skipper looked at his daughter for a long moment, before sighing. “Fine. Whatever. I don't care.” And with that, he jumped into the crate.

“Could you find me a song now?” the king asked.

“Of course,” Alex replied as Julien handed her the MP3 Player.

Kowalski sighed as he slipped farther into the crate, unable to see his girlfriend taking orders from that lemur. Finally she joined her friends, and darkness engulfed them as Rico slid the top over the crate. Now all they had to do was wait.

* * *

“Your Majesty?” a soft voice spoke in Julien's ear, breaking into his sleep. “Come on, wake up. I think we're almost there.”

The king blinked open his yellow eyes and saw Emily staring down at him. Julien got up and stretched, yawning. He blinked a few times, but he could hardly see anything. The crate was dark, but a little light got in from cracks in the woods. He turned to Emily and snapped,” Are you sure we're almost there? I was having the most wonderest dream of all time!” He calmed down when he saw Emily's eyes widened with surprise. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I was just dreaming that I was still king of Madagascar.”

“You miss that, don't you?” Emily whispered, looking Julien in the eyes.

“A little,” he replied, turning away from her. “But,” he added as he glanced at the female lemur,” I hate saying this, but I'm pretty sure I can't be staying once we defeat Dark.” He didn't mention why he didn't want to stay; he had come to love New York, and he felt like he would miss the animals of the zoo if he didn’t go back.

_ I’d even miss the silly penguins, _ he realized.

Wanting to take his mind off of everything, he picked up his MP3 Player, and turned it on. A bright light lit up the crate, causing all the lemurs to cover their eyes. When he could open his eyes again, Julien turned to the music player screen, but he quickly felt the familiar frustration. He hated that he couldn't read! Then he remembered what Alex had said before they left.

He stood up and pushed the top off. He looked around and saw there were lots of other crates around, and the waves rocked the boat up and down. He felt sick, but he took a deep breath and jumped out of the crate. He landed on the one he knew the penguins were in. He opened it and looked down at them.

“Hey, Alex,” he called to her. “Can you be finding me a song?” He dropped into the box, landing beside the female penguin; Alex smiled and took it from him.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she said as she began to go through the songs.

As she found Julien a song, the king noticed Skipper glaring at him. Then he spotted Kowalski rolling his eyes and the smart penguin announced,” I'm going to go see where we are.” He jumped out of the crate, disappearing.

A touch on his arm made Julien turn back to Alex, who handed him the MP3 Player.

“This is a good song, Your Majesty,” she told him. “I think you'll like it. I've heard it before.” She laughed slightly as she looked up at the lemur.

“What is it called?” he asked.

“Twist My Hips,” Alex replied, smiling at the tall lemur.

Julien put the headphones in his ears and pushed the play button, causing the song to start echoing inside his head. At first it was only music, and it made Julien want to start dancing, but he had little room, so he had to force his body to stay still as he sat down in between Alex and Victoria; he noticed the new penguin glancing at him and scooting away from him, but he didn't pay any attention to her.

Then words started playing, and he really liked them. He made a mental note to remind himself when this was all over to listen to this song when they get back home and dance to it.

The song went on, but just then Kowalski appeared, looking down at his leader. His beak started moving, reporting something to Skipper, but all Julien could hear was the song. He felt something nudge him, and he turned around to see Alex looking at him, signaling to him to take off the headphones, so Julien did.

“He said he can see Madagascar, Your Highness,” she announced as soon as he could hear.

When he was done turning the MP3 Player off and handing it to Alex, the ring tail lemur jumped out of the crate and started making his way to the front of the boat, dodging boxes but also using them to hide from humans that roamed the area. When he got to the front, he looked out and saw a tiny speck. A warm feeling flooded over him as he half closed his eyes and muttered one word: “Home.”


	8. A Dark Horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The stench of crow-food hit Weasel's nose as Tiger, the dark striped tabby tom, pushed aside the leaves that surrounded this area of the island. This was the first time Weasel and Lilian had been here ever since Dark had gained power over the lemurs.

Weasel remembered what this place looked like when Julien was here: there had been vines that had been covered in different kinds of colorful flowers; everyone sang and danced; lights flashed, casting shadows of the lemurs on the leaves and rocks that surrounded.

Now the area looked nothing like that. There was no singing, no dancing, no lights, no beautiful flowers. The ground was littered with half eaten fruit and the air smelled rotten.

Before the cats had arrived on the island, there had been plenty of food for everyone, but now a lemur would be lucky to get a whiff of a mango. All the food went straight to Dark and his cats and the lemurs that had turned traitor, the ones who actually find enjoyment in tormenting the lemurs they've known all their lives. Weasel thought that was the sickest thing ever. He didn't understand why anyone would want to just suddenly turn against their friends and harm them.

The other two cats, a gray-and-white tom and a big white tom, followed close behind Weasel and Lilian, but when Tiger flicked his tail, the cats stalked away, heading toward the shadows and disappearing a heartbeat later. There were no other animals in the clearing but Weasel and Lilian and the two remaining cats that had escorted them here.

Tiger opened his mouth and let out a short yowl. Then the clearing fell silent once more.

It was a few moments until a shadow started walking toward them, the cat hidden behind the leaves. Then he stepped out behind a rock and glared at his visitors.

“What is it, Tiger?” growled the black-and-gray tom, drawing his lips back, revealing sharp teeth. One of his cut ears twitched as he stared at the two cats. His whole fur was criss-crossed with scars, and his muscles rippled under his bedraggled pelt.

Weasel widened his eyes. It was frightening every time to see Dark. He looked tough and mean, and the way he looked was exactly how he was; Weasel had found that out when the black-and-gray tom attacked the rebellious lemurs and threw them out.

Tiger stepped forward and dipped his head to his leader. “We found these two talking about someone coming to save them.” He flicked his tail to Weasel and Lilian.

Dark glanced at them and a purr sounded in his throat, but Weasel could tell he was mocking them. “You stupid lemurs,” he growled as he stopped purring. “No one will stop me from ruling here. I would love to know who you think could take me down though. I could use a good laugh.” His voice was harsh as he glared at the two lemurs.

To Weasel's horror, Lilian stepped forward and responded to the evil cat. “King Julien,” she spat as she looked at Dark. “He will return, and when he does, you and your sorry excuse of cats will be driving out, you piece of fossa dung!”

Dark's ears pricked with surprise as he stared at Lilian. “Sassy, aren't you? What's your name?”

Before she could reply, Weasel pushed her aside and said to Dark,” Never mind that. Are you going to throw us out or…” He gulped, unable to say the word “kill” in case the cat decided to do that…

“Oh, I’m not going to harm you.” Dark sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws. “I have plans for you two.” Weasel opened his mouth, about to ask him what he meant by that, but Dark got up and called into the shadows, and a heartbeat later a lemur stepped out. She looked just like Weasel, and he widened his eyes as soon as he recognized his sister.

“Elizabeth,” Weasel spoke up before Dark could say anything, but she didn't look at him. She stopped in front of Dark and dipped her head to him respectfully.

“Take these two where the other prisoners are,” Dark told her, in which she nodded in understanding.

Then the female lemur walked over to her brother and Lilian. Instead of saying anything to Weasel, she started pushing him and his friend forward, into the shadows.

They had to walk by some of the cats; they all glared at the two lemurs and hissed at them as Elizabeth pushed them onward. Weasel tried to glance at his sister, but every time he did, he would trip over something or step on a thorn, so he finally gave up and looked ahead of him as he ducked under a branch and stepped into a much smaller clearing than the one they had just come from.

The smell of rotten food and sickness was strong here. Weasel could see some lemurs curled up in a tight ball, while others were sitting in a corner, casting scared looks around. There were a few cats here, guarding the lemurs, so they wouldn't run away, if they could. Weasel could tell that most of these lemurs couldn't stand, even if forced. He felt a pang of sadness. What had become of Madagascar?

Elizabeth pushed her brother forward, making him stumble, but Lilian helped him regain his footing. Then the two lemurs walked over to a corner where there were no cats. They looked around and saw that a few other prisoners had lifted their heads to look at the newcomers; Weasel noticed, with a cold dread, that some of them were looking at him with dull, glazed over eyes. It was obvious that these lemurs had given up all hope, but Weasel believed that Emily would come back with King Julien.

At the thought of his king, the black-and-orange lemur began to wonder where they could be. Emily had been gone for what seemed like more than a week. Surely she would be back by now? Weasel didn't know how long it would take to get to New York; she could still be on her way there. Or maybe Julien could have refused to come back, saying that there was no way he was going to go to Madagascar, if it was a wasteland, overrun by cats.

Then Weasel told himself to stop being so stupid. Of course Julien would agree to come back. He wouldn't hide while his friends were in danger. When the fossa tormented the lemurs, Julien had stayed calm and came up with a plan to scare them off. It had worked, thanks to Alex the lion and his friends. Now the king would return and come up with another plan to drive out Dark and his followers.

Suddenly, a thought hit him, making him shiver as if he just fell into cold water.

Elizabeth, his younger and only sibling, was one of Dark's followers. Would she be chased away, too, since she betrayed her friends? Weasel wondered if Julien would let her stay if she said how sorry she was, but he didn't know if she was sorry. She pushed her brother to this clearing with the other prisoners without even looking at him or showing a sign of regret in her eyes.

Elizabeth wasn't the only lemur to join Dark. There were a few more, ones that either loved to fight or ones that were probably scared that the cats would harm them, and who felt like they had no choice but to join them. Weasel's tail flicked angrily when he realized that they did have a choice, but they had chosen the wrong decision, even if they did think it was for the best.

Trying not to think what's happening beyond this clearing, Weasel looked around, seeing that the cats were now huddled together, meowing quietly to each other, as each of them kept one eye on the lemurs.

Weasel stared at them for a few moments, until something hard stabbed into his side; he looked over at Lilian, who was staring at him with big, terrified yellow eyes. She was younger than he was, so it was his job to calm her down. Although they weren't related, he had always thought of Lilian as a younger sister, especially now after Elizabeth's betrayal.

“It's okay,” he whispered to her as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her with a hug. “We'll be fine, you'll see. King Julien will be back soon. Like you said, he'll have a plan.”

“You really believe that, don't you?”

Weasel turned around, but he didn't see who had spoken, and he prayed that one of the cats didn't overhear him. They were already in big trouble. He relaxed when a lemur with a black spot on his gray stomach stepped out of the shadows, his ring tail flicking as he walked over to Weasel and Lilian.

“Oh, it's you, Patch!” Lilian breathed. Weasel had felt her stiffen when they had heard the voice, but now she relaxed. “You almost scared me out of my fur!” Her eyes were soft as she stared at Julien's brother. “What are you doing here?” she added in a quieter voice.

“Same as you,” Patch replied as he sat next to Lilian.

“You mean, you're a prisoner, too?” Weasel asked, shocked. “What did you do?”

Patch shrugged as he turned away. “Some of the rogue lemurs told Dark that I was Julien's brother, so Dark ordered his cats to find me and bring me to him.” His eyes clouded with memory as he turned back to his friends. “They found me hiding in the trees on the other side of the island. I had a feeling they were going to come after me, so I...hid.” He sighed. “I'm nothing but a coward.”

“No, you're not!” Lilian protested firmly but quietly. “I know there's lots of lemurs hiding from Dark and his bunch. If you were a coward, you would be like them.” She pointed to a few lemurs that were curled up in a tight ball, whispering something under their breath, some of them casting terrified glances at the cats that were still talking amongst themselves.

“You're one of the bravest lemurs I know,” Lilian went on to Patch, who was blinking slowly and thoughtfully. “You were the only one, besides Julien and Maurice, who didn't freak out when you heard the word 'fossa'.”

When she said that, some of the lemurs lifted their heads, staring at her, but they didn't try to move. They blinked, then laid back down.

_ Wow,  _ Weasel thought.  _ They must be seriously hurting or scared if they didn't freak out when they heard fossa. _

Even though it's been a while since the last time they had trouble from the cat-like creatures, some lemurs still went crazy if they heard that word. Weasel had a feeling that if someone said Dark really loud, all of them would jump up and start running around, even if they were tired or sick. He couldn't even imagine what would happen if the black-and-gray cat walked into the clearing for real. He glanced at the hole that seemed to be the entrance to the clearing, half expecting Dark to walk through any second, but he never came. Relief flooded over Weasel as he turned back to Lilian and Patch.

Patch was looking at the female lemur, a smile on his face. But he turned away as he replied,” It was different for me, having been raised by them. By the time I came to live with the kingdom again, the fossa stopped bothering us.” He sighed and muttered,” My brother was the best king we ever had. Now he's gone, and there’s no one else who can save us… Even Clover seemed to have abandoned us… There’s been no sign of her since Dark came…”

“Come on, Patch,” Weasel pleaded, not wanting to see the lemur this way. He had almost always been positive, and seeing him giving up hope made Weasel wonder if there really were any hope left. “King Julien will be back. He loves Madagascar, and he won't let it be taken over. We just have to wait and try to stay alive until he gets here. Then I’m  _ sure  _ he and Clover will save us.”

Patch stared at him with dull eyes, but he didn't have a chance to reply to him, for a cat was walking toward them. All three lemurs fell quiet as the cat came to a halt beside them. The cat didn't say anything though. He just sat beside them, glanced at them, then turned to look out across the clearing.

The lemurs sighed softly and sat down. Now they couldn't talk. Weasel looked up at the cat that was guarding them.

He was a dark gray tom with lighter gray spots all over his body.

Weasel took his eyes off of the cat and laid down, looking up; branches were blocking his view of the sky. He wondered where Emily was and if she was coming back at all. She was far, far from this island. Maybe she had decided that it would be stupid to return.

_ Please, sky spirits, _ Weasel prayed,  _ watch over Emily, whether she's on her way here or in New York, staying with King Julien, but if they are coming back, please make it quick. _


	9. Returning Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

It was only when the horn of the boat grew fainter and fainter that Alex dared to open the crate. She stood up, standing on top of the pile of fish that was covering the bottom of the box. She lifted her flipper until she felt the roof. It was too dark to see anything, so she had to use her other senses to detect what was going on. She pushed the top off and popped her head out, looking around as she turned in a complete circle.

The first thing she saw was the other crate a few feet away. As she stared at it, the top flew off and Julien jumped out of it, hopping to the sand and looking around. A smile formed on his face as he scanned the beach.

Alex turned to look at where the king was staring. She let out a surprised squeak when she saw a forest in front of her. She’s never seen so many trees in one place. She jumped out of the crate and walked over to her king.

The other penguins and lemurs joined their friends, staring at the forest as well. Alex saw the king and his subjects’ eyes shined with happiness and excitement, while Alex's father and his team's eyes showed uncertainty. Alex glanced at her boyfriend, wondering what he was thinking. She could see that he had a determined look on his face, like he was ready to go up against these cats. She could also see pain twisted on his face.

_ Is his foot still bothering him? _ she asked herself in her mind.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a yowl that was coming from the forest. Everyone looked up as three cats walked out from the woods, their stomachs touching the ground as they slowly made their way to the penguins and lemurs.

Victoria, who was standing beside Alex, looked as if she had just seen a ghost. Alex could tell that she was tense as she stared at the cats, every muscle inside the penguin waiting for something to happen. Alex was confused. Why was Victoria staring at the cats that way? The young penguin looked at the cats as they came closer.

The cat in the lead was a pure white tom with scars on his flanks, and he had wild, mean green eyes that glared at the animals. One of the cats behind him was a dark brown tabby she-cat with a cut ear, and the other one was a small black-and-white tom. All of them looked nasty, with marks of past battles, and if these cats looked so ruthless, she couldn’t imagine what their leader could be like. Silently, Alex wondered if they’d be able to save the lemurs, but she knew better not to say that out loud in front of Julien and the others.

It felt like time stopped as the cats stalked over to the penguins and lemurs. Finally, the snowy cat came to a halt in front of Skipper, who had stepped forward to meet the cats. They looked at each other. The white tom pushed himself up to a higher height, but he stayed on all four paws as he glared at the penguin.

“What are you doing here?” he growled at Skipper. The penguin opened his mouth, but the cat looked past him, his eyes suddenly widening. “Victoria?” he breathed as he walked around Skipper.

The penguin lifted her head as everyone turned to her. Alex was confused. How did this cat know Victoria?

“Hello, Snow,” she said calmly, keeping her eyes on the snowy-pelt cat. “It's been a long time.”

“It sure has,” the cat agreed, a hint of a growl in his voice as he dug his claws in the sand. “What are you doing here?” Snow flicked his tail crossly. “I thought we saw the last of you when you turned your back on us. You know Dark isn't going to be happy to see you, right?”

“Of course,” Victoria said quietly. “But I did what I had to.” She stared into Snow's eyes. “I thank you for what the group did for me though.”

The dark brown tabby bared her teeth. “We shouldn't have let you in,” she growled. “You turned against us!”

Anger flashed in Victoria's eyes as she stood her ground, but before she could say anything to the cat, Skipper ran in between them and demanded to the female penguin,” You know these cats? You were once part of their group?”

“Yes,” Victoria replied, looking past Skipper and at the snowy-pelt tom, glaring at him.

“But you're a penguin!” Private protested, his voice betraying his surprise. “And they are cats. Why would cats take in a penguin?”

“So this is the group you mentioned before?” Kowalski asked, limping to the youngest member of the team and turning suspicious eyes on Victoria.

“It's a long story,” Victoria murmured, stepping away from Skipper and not looking at any of the penguins around her.

“It's between us and her, not you flightless birds and lame squirrels,” Snow growled, glaring at Skipper.

Alex stared in horror as Julien stepped forward, demanding,” Who are you calling a lame squirrel?”

Skipper rolled his eyes and pushed the ring tail lemur back as he faced the white cat again. “Where is your leader?” He took a step toward the cat, making the creature back up.

It wasn't the white tom who responded. It was the black-and-white cat who spoke up. “Why do you want Dark?” He put his head to one side, but instead of hostility in his eyes like the other cats, he showed confusion and wonder. A hiss from the dark brown tabby made him crouch down, flattening his ears against his head as he looked up at her with fear in his eyes.

The snowy tom stepped forward, as if he suddenly got the courage to stand up to Skipper. He stared at the penguin, baring his teeth at him as he arched his back, every hair on his pelt bristling. “How dare you come here, asking for our leader, fish-breath?” he growled.

“Fish-breath?” Skipper said angrily, while Rico growled at the cat and Private looked hurt. Alex heard Kowalski mutter something under his breath, but she didn't hear what; even she was insulted by the term, and she wanted nothing more than to attack him, but before she could, her father shouted,” How dare you call me that!” Before the cat could reply, the lead penguin launched at him, quickly pinning him down and staring into his eyes. “Say that again, snowflake!”

Snow looked at him with hatred in his eyes, but, yet again, before he could say anything, Kowalski, Private, and Rico pulled their leader off of the cat. As soon as Skipper was off of the snow white cat, Rico walked over to the small group of cats and started growling under his breath. Then he started gagging, throwing up a sword.

Alex looked at the sword, wondering how he could have eaten that...without cutting his insides. The blade was much bigger than he was. He pointed it at the cats, who were all backing up slowly, looking at the very sharp sword.

Before Rico could do anything with the sword, though, Julien walked over to him, took the blade from him and threw it in the ocean. The psychopath turned on him, and Alex was ready to go over to protect her king from Rico if she had to. But Julien didn't wait to see how he would react. Instead, the ring tail lemur turned to the cats.

“I demand you to take me to your leader this instant!” the king ordered, his voice raising a little as he stomped his foot down and glared at the cats.

The snow pelted cat stared at him as if he was crazy. “And who do you think you are?” he snarled.

“I'm Kin–“

Before he could finish his name, Skipper ran forward, grabbing Julien by his mouth, making the lemur stop talking. Then the penguin whispered something to him, and Alex guessed that he was telling the ring tail lemur that it wasn't wise to admit that he was the king.

Snow stepped forward and looked at Julien, up and down. His green eyes landed on Julien's crown. The cat narrowed his eyes and growled,” You're the king that once ruled over this island, aren't you?'

The penguins and lemurs looked at the cat; Alex was scared to know what would happen next. She guessed that everyone else felt the same way, for Victoria was hardly breathing. Private, who was on Alex's other side, was staring at the cats with wide dismayed eyes. Alex couldn't see what her father was feeling, for he was standing beside Julien, a few footsteps ahead of everyone else, staring at the cats, but she sensed that everyone was waiting for something to happen.

A heartbeat later, the white cat launched forward, sinking his teeth into Julien's tail and dragging him away from his friends. The ring tail lemur let out a scream as he tried to get free, but the cat was much stronger than he was. Then the other two cats joined their companion, the dark brown tabby grabbing onto Julien's paws with her teeth, while the small black-and-white tom crawled under him, picked him up off the ground. Then the three cats were running into the forest, carrying Julien away with them.

“Help me!” Julien screamed as the cats carried him away, soon disappearing into the woods, leaving the beach silent once more.


	10. A Little Something About Victoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

“King Julien!” Maurice and Mort yelled together, eyes wide with fear.

Alex watched in horror as the cats ran off with her king, and she gasped when her father tried to run after them, but his team dashed in front of him, Kowalski telling him that it was useless to try to save him just now and that they need to come up with a plan. Alex wanted to run after the cats, too, and try to save King Julien, but she was frozen where she stood.

Then Emily stepped forward. “They won't hurt him; not right away anyways,” she told them, obviously trying to stay calm, and doing a lot better job than everyone else. Alex forced herself to relax, reminding herself that Emily knew more about Dark than the rest of them did.

_ Besides, Victoria, it seems…  _ she thought with a glance at her.

“If anything,” the female lemur went on,” Dark will probably keep him as a prisoner right now, until he thinks of something worse to do with him.”

Everyone turned to her.

“That's bad!” Maurice cried as he glanced at the forest. “We have to save him before they do kill him!”

Still Emily looked calm compared to everyone as she turned to the aye-aye. “But do you really think it's wise to just run into Dark's camp, declaring that we want King Julien back?”

Alex had to admit that she had a point. If they did that, every single one of them would get hurt or even killed. The female penguin looked at her boyfriend and the others, wondering if that was why they stopped their leader from going after the cats. Maybe they knew that it would be stupid to jump that little gang of cats, since they had friends all over the island that could come to their rescue. That would have ruined everything.

“Skipper, calm down,” Kowalski said gently as he walked closer to his leader. “Maybe we should listen to Emily. She was here when Dark took over, so she knows more about him than we do.”

The leader glared at him. “But that sorry excuse for a cat called us fish-breath,” he spat, and Alex was surprised to hear how upset her father sounded, but then he sighed and muttered,” Okay. You're right, Kowalski.” He glared once in the direction of the forest, before walking to Emily.

Alex took a step that brought her to her father's side. She looked at the trees, and she heard a tiny voice in her mind telling her to go after her king and get him back. But she knew she had to stay put and listen to Emily.

“Alright, lemur,” Skipper went on, stopping in front of the female lemur. “You have a better plan?”

The ring tail lemur nodded and began,” I know where Dark keeps his prisoners, so maybe if we could get there, without being seen, we could get King Julien, then come up with another plan to save everyone else.”

“But why don't we just come up with a plan to save everyone, along with Ringtail?” Skipper questioned. “Instead of going back for the others later.”

Emily looked at him, her eyes suddenly turning sad. “We don’t know what Dark has planned for King Julien,” she replied quietly. “He’s exiled a few lemurs for disobeying him, but now that his leadership is threatened by the real king, he might want to…” She gulped, then whispered,” Get rid of him… for good.”

Maurice gasped, and Mort bursted into tears. Alex felt sick to her stomach, and suddenly she wished they never came.  _ King Julien would be safe if we stayed at the zoo, _ she thought; then shook her head. They had a mission to do. They had to save the king and the rest of the lemurs from these evil cats before it’s too late.

_ I hope it's not already too late, _ she added to herself.

“Alright then,” Skipper said in a commanding voice. “We go with your plan. Save Ringtail, then the others.”

Emily nodded and headed toward the trees. Alex started to follow, only to halt when she noticed that Skipper didn’t move. She looked at her father and saw that he was glaring at Victoria. Suddenly Kowalski walked past her and stopped beside his leader.

“Skipper?” he asked hesitantly. “Aren’t we going now?”

Skipper didn't seem to hear him. He just kept glaring at Victoria. Alex noticed that everyone else had come back, watching the lead penguin nervously.

“Are you okay, Skippah?” asked Private, while Rico stared at his leader with worried eyes.

Though the lemurs said nothing, they glanced at each other, looking anxious. Emily no longer looked calm; her tail twitched, clearly impatient about standing around while her king was in danger.

The flat-headed penguin didn't respond to his teammates, and he started walking toward Victoria, growling,” So, you used to be part of this group? I knew I couldn't trust you. Are you even a penguin? Maybe you’re a cat in disguise. So tell me,  _ cat _ , what made you leave them? And why did you join them in the first place?”

As he spoke, he kept walking toward her, making her back up. Alex watched in dismay as her father confronted Victoria. There wasn't time for this! She wanted to remind him that while they stayed here, the king was in trouble. But before she could utter a word, Kowalski spoke up again.

“Skipper,” he said to his leader in an urgent tone,” this isn't the time. We have to save Julien. Dark knows that we are here now. He'll send a patrol out here and then our plans will be ruined.”

Skipper didn't turn to his strategist or even reply to him. Instead he kept walking toward Victoria, who was still backing up until water was lapping at her feet.

“Alright, I’ll tell you,” Victoria said, holding her flippers up to show that she surrenders.

Skipper paused and eyed her suspiciously. “Go on.”

“About a year ago, I met Dark and his cats,” she admitted, looking around at everyone. She swallowed and continued. “Long before the humans caught me and sent me to live in your zoo. I had just escaped from this wolf that had been bullying me for a very long time. But I was badly hurt, and I—”

“Whao! Whao!” Skipper interrupted. “Why was a wolf bullying you?”

Victoria stared at him and then replied,” That's a tale for another time.” Then she went on with her story before Skipper could say anything else. “I knew I was in the city, but I wasn’t sure which part of it. I was trying to find someplace to hide. I was barely conscious, but I think I hid in an alleyway. Then I passed out. When I woke, I was surrounded by cats.” She sighed and looked down at her feet. “One of the cats, Snow, you know that pure white cat who was just here…. Well, most of the cats wanted to kill me, but Snow convinced his friends to take me to their leader. When I met Dark—“

She paused and turned her head to look out at the glistening water. For several long moments, she didn’t speak, and in that time, Alex noticed how restless everyone seemed. Skipper still glared at Victoria; Kowalski was looking confused; Rico just rolled his eyes as if he didn’t care about this story; and Private was shifting anxiously. The lemurs were looking worse of all; Maurice kept whimpering under his breath as he glanced at the trees; Mort ran in a tight circle, stopped, looked down widely, then ran in circles again; and Emily, oh, she looked terrible. Alex felt sorry for her. It was obvious she liked the king more than just a normal subject, and clearly she was suffering by staying here and listening to Victoria’s backstory.

“Go on,” Kowalski finally said when Victoria still didn’t speak.

“Oh, right,” Victoria muttered. “When I met Dark, I couldn’t help but admire and respect him.”

“Why?” Private asked. “I haven’t even met him, but what I’ve heard about him, he doesn’t seem like a nice cat at all.”

Victoria shrugged. “He’s the kind of cat that demands respect, but when I first saw him, I immediately admired him without even knowing him. He looked strong and powerful and I could tell he was very brave. What’s not to admire someone like that? I mean, come on,” she went on, gesturing to the commando team and adding,” he could probably defeat any of you.”

Rico snorted, clearly not believing it, while Kowalski rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right,” he muttered.

Private looked scared, but Skipper had a determined look on his face.

“Are you doubting our abilities?” the leader asked.

“No,” Victoria replied slowly. “I'm just saying that Dark is more powerful, and plus he has more cats than you could probably count.”

Skipper held her gaze for a few moments, before growling,” Continue the story.”

“Okay. So Dark decided to take me in and told me that he knew about herbs, so he nursed me back to health. Then I decided to stay with the group. They taught me how to fight, how to survive on the streets without being seen by humans, and Dark even taught me about herbs. Everything was going fine. I was getting used to–“

“Wait, if Dark is so evil, why did he take you in and nurse you back to health, instead of killing you?” Skipper questioned, narrowing his eyes.

Victoria looked annoyed, probably because everyone kept interrupting her. “I had made him an oath…” She looked down at her feet, using them to draw lines in the sand as she shifted them, looking awkward. “I told him that if he let me stay with him, I would always be loyal to him.”

“But you weren't… Right?” Kowalski asked, sounding quite interested.

Before Victoria could reply, Emily spoke up. “Guys,” the lemur said, and everyone turned to her. “Are we going to save King Julien or not?”

“In a minute, lemur,” Skipper said, then turned back to Victoria. “Alright, then, go on.”

“Like I said before I was interrupted...again,” the penguin said, rolling her eyes. “Everything was going fine. I was getting used to being around so many cats. And then something happened… I still have nightmares about it. Sometimes I wish I could have done something to help them, but I panicked. I didn't know what to do.”

“What happened?” Kowalski asked as he leaned closer; Alex was very interested now, too, wanting to know more.

“The day started like any other day,” Victoria went on. “The adult cats were out finding food, the younger cats were looking after the elders. I was with Dark, in his den. He was telling me that it was time I became his second-in-command. He had told me if anything happened to him, I would become leader of his group. I had thanked him and then left the den to find Holly, who had become a close friend of mine, but before I could find her, the camp was attacked by a gang of dogs. Almost all the bigger cats were out, but the others that stayed behind immediately started fighting the dogs. There were so many of them though...Then—“ Her voice shock badly as she went on— “the unthinkable happened. I heard a scream coming from Dark's den, and when I got there I couldn't believe who I saw.” She shivered and lowered her eyes, falling silent.

“Who was it?” Private asked, his voice full of fear.

Victoria lifted her eyes, which were dark with memories. “It was Woolsey, that wolf that had been bullying me.”

“Ah, Woolsey,” Kowalski murmured, and everyone turned to him. “That name means 'victorious wolf'. The origin is Engligh.”

Skipper glared at him, and the penguin shut his back, looking down at his feet. Alex felt sorry for her boyfriend, but she said nothing. It was a while until Victoria went on.

“When I saw him,” she said quietly,” I got scared. I didn't want him to know I was there. I wanted to save Dark, but I couldn’t. I was torn. I wasn't sure what I should do, but I knew I didn't have time to think. I saw every cat was fighting, even the elders and the queens, after they hid their kits in the nursery. I wanted to help my friends, but I couldn't risk Woolsey seeing me, so I...ran.” She bowed her head and let out a soft sigh. “A few days afterward, I was trying to find some food, but I ran into a patrol. They said that they thought the dogs had killed me and dragged me away.”

“Wait, wait.” Skipper interrupted once more. “This Whosit or whatits or whatever...he's a wolf, right?”

Victoria nodded.

“Why is he hanging around dogs?” the leader asked, putting his flippers on his hips.

“You have to remember, I was in a cat group, but I'm a penguin. And besides,” she added,” Woolsey's wolf pack was killed by humans, so he found the closest species to rule over, since he couldn't find any more wolves. He always has to rule over someone.” She sighed deeply, a sigh that was full of meaning.

“Never mind Woolsey,” Kowalski said. “What happened when you saw the patrol?”

“Oh. Well, they had told me that I had to come back and show Dark that I was still alive, but I refused. When they found out that I ran away, they thought I knew that Woolsey and his pack was going to attack. But I didn't, I swear!”

“We believe you,” Private said, smiling.

A small smile formed on Victoria's face, which turned into a frown, when Emily asked,” Is story time over?” The female lemur had sat down while the penguin had been telling her story, but now she stood up and knocked off the sand that clung to her fur. “We have to get to King Julien before Dark does end up killing him!”

Skipper turned to Victoria and asked,” Is there anything else you want to add?”

The penguin thought for a moment, then shook her head, her eyes shining with worry and uncertainty. Alex wondered if she was regretting telling everyone her backstory.

“Alright then,” Skipper said, turning back to Emily. “Led the way.”

Emily quickly turned away and swiftly ran to the forest. She seemed very eager to get Julien back, and Alex felt the same way. She wanted to get to her king before Dark killed him! But thinking about the evil cat was making her scared, and she glanced around, spotting her boyfriend. She ran over to him, feeling the need to be with Kowalski. Then she realized he was still limping.

“You okay, honey?” she whispered to him.

He nodded, but Alex could see the pain in his eyes as they walked.

Alex moved closer to him as they headed into cover, bumping against each other as they walked closely together. Then she reached and took hold of his flipper, feeling better with him here. She noticed that Victoria was walking behind, in a much slower place. Alex was so busy wondering what the female penguin was thinking that she didn't notice where she was putting her own feet, and she tripped over a stick. She fell to the ground, causing Kowalski to fall as well.

The smart penguin got up and helped Alex to her feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked her as he dusted the sand off of her; he didn't even try to knock off the sand that was covering his belly.

“Yeah, I guess,” Alex replied. “It's just the story Victoria told us was sad and scary.”

“I know,” Kowalski murmured. “I'm wondering why Woolsey was after her,” he added quietly as they followed their friends. “A wolf never goes into the city. Why would Woolsey go there just to attack a group of cats?”

Alex tried her hardest to find the answer to that question, but she couldn't. She glanced once more at Victoria, quickly looking ahead of her again, so she wouldn't trip over anything else. She had a feeling that Victoria didn't tell them everything.

_ Everyone has secrets, _ she thought. _ I suppose there's some things that she would rather keep hidden, stuff that might still be bothering her to this day. I just hope she learns to trust us enough to tell us everything eventually. _


	11. What's Become of Madagascar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

The white tom pushed Julien through the leaf wall, without even opening it. The ring tail lemur stumbled inside the clearing, losing his balance, and he fell to the ground. His tail and paw still hurt, and he was sure that he had bite marks on them, though he really didn't care about the pain. He glanced around, his eyes wide and his mouth opened in a silent gasp. Dark has destroyed his beloved home! The area was dark and miserable, instead of the way it was before Julien left. The king suddenly felt a flash of fury. How dare Dark do this? That cat would pay big time!

_ I shouldn't have left,  _ he thought as he looked around.  _ If I didn't leave, Dark would never have gained power. _

As he began to think about Dark and what had become of his home, still on the ground, he saw a shadow move around the rocks. He looked up, his yellow eyes widening even more when a huge black-and-gray tom walked into the light. The cat padded over to the lemur and the others. His icy-blue eyes looked into Julien's, making the king crawl backwards, but he ran into something. 

Glancing up, he saw the dark brown tabby glaring down at him, her lips drawn back to reveal sharp, yellow teeth. He quickly crawled away from her, on his hands and knees, but the black-and-gray tom had come even closer, and Julien found himself laying under the icy-blue stare once more.

“And who is this?” Dark growled, lowering his head so he looked Julien eye to eye. “I haven't seen you around.”

Fear made Julien unable to reply.

The snow pelted cat took a step toward his leader and responded,” He's the former king here.”

As soon as he heard his cat say that, Dark's eyes filled with hatred, and a hiss escaped his mouth. He glared at Julien. “What are you doing back here, stupid,  _ stupid _ lemur?” the cat growled. “I'm not sure what kind of decisions you've made in your life, but coming back here may be the biggest mistake you will ever make.” He looked up at his cats and ordered,” Take him to the other lemurs. I'll deal with him later.” He turned his back on the animals and walked off into the shadows.

When their leader gave them the order, the two bigger cats started pushing Julien forward, while the smaller one walked a few steps behind, giving the ring tail lemur a few glances. Though the cat's eyes were almost unreadable, Julien knew that they weren't friendly by the way the small black-and-white tom's pelt was bristling and his lips were drawn back a little as if he was giving Julien a warning.

Julien let the white tom and the dark brown tabby push him away, through the bushes that surrounded the clearing and into the jungle. Not long after they left the area where they met Dark, the dark brown tabby turned to the smaller cat and meowed,” You can go now, Badger. You can find your siblings and get something to eat.”

The black-and-white tom nodded and started padding away, calling over his shoulder as he went,” Thank you, Ebony.” Then he disappeared in the bushes and leaves that surrounded them.

Not paying attention where he was walking, still staring after Badger, although he couldn't see the small cat anymore, Julien was surprised when he tripped, falling face first to the ground. He pushed himself up, but pain shot through him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that he had walked right on a log, and his foot was stuck in it. His foot burned with pain as he tried to pull it out, but it was too jammed to just slip it out. He sighed and gave up, hoping this would cause the cats to just leave him here and not take him to the other prisoners.

Instead of going away, though, the two cats exchanged an amusement glance. Then they walked over to him, the white tom grabbing until Julien's hand with his teeth. The sharp teeth hurt his hand, but it wasn't anywhere near the pain he felt in his foot. Ebony walked to the log and wrapped her tail around it. After one more glance, the two cats started pulling. A new kind of pain hit Julien. He let out a loud scream as the cats stretched him out.

A few heartbeats later, the ring tail lemur felt his foot losing, and another moment, he was soaring across the trail, landing right on top of the white tom, who pushed him off, growling under his breath.

The king jumped to his feet, immediately lifting his foot when pain shot through him. It was a few moments before he could put his foot down without it hurting. “Thanks!” he said to the cats, smiling, but they stalked past him without a word. Sighing, he followed them.

Finally they came to a much smaller clearing, and as soon as they came to the edge of it, a putrid smell hit Julien's nose, and he widened his eyes when he saw what was in front of him.

Lemurs laid everywhere, looking tired and hungry. A powerful odor of sickness rose in the air, and Julien recoiled away, plugging up his nose.  _ What has happened here? _ he thought. He started backing away, but before he got far, the two cats were pushing him into the clearing, and he stumbled a little but managed to catch himself before falling.

The lemurs in the clearing looked up as the king walked into the light. Some of them seemed to recognize the ring tail lemur almost at once, but others had to stare at him for a few moments before it came back to them, but none of them got up and welcomed him back. They stayed where they were, a few glancing at their guards, who all had turned when Julien came into the clearing.

Snow, the white tom, walked over to his fellow cats, while Ebony stayed with Julien, probably making sure the ring tail lemur didn't run off.

_ Like I could,  _ Julien thought crossly.  _ There's too many cats around here for me to get away without anyone seeing me. _

The snowy tom came to a halt in front of a dark gray-and-white she-cat and meowed something to her. Then she shot a glare at Julien, who guessed that Snow told her that he was once king here. The other cats looked at him in an unfriendly way as well, and some of them hissed at him, or bared their sharp teeth at him. Some even fell into a crouch and started walking toward him, spitting.

Julien took a step or two backwards, realizing that these cats wanted nothing more but to jump on him and rip him to pieces. He ran into something, and he turned around and saw a huge ginger tom towering over him, his foul breath making Julien gag. He was sure the cat was about to jump on him, but suddenly a yowl split through the air.

“Stop!” The dark gray-and-white she-cat padded over to the other cats and planted herself between them and Julien. “That's enough,” she hissed. “Dark didn't tell us to attack him. What would he say if he found out what we did to this lemur? He would certainly have our tails off.”

The cats that surrounded forced their pelts to lay flat again as they took a few steps away from Julien, who was trying his best to hide behind the gray-and-white she-cat.

“But Holly,” the ginger tom, who was behind Julien, protested,” Dark will never know if we gave him a scratch or two.” He glared down at Julien, and fell into a battle crouch as if he was about to jump on the lemur.

Before he could move, Holly turned on him and blocked his way. “Think, Flame!” she growled, glaring down at him. “Dark will know if you hurt this lemur because  _ I'll  _ tell him myself!”

The two cats stared at each other for a long moment, until finally Flame sat up, taking a step back as he bowed his head.

It was a few more moments until Holly turned her head around to stare at the other cats. “No cat is to hurt this lemur,” she told them, pointing at Julien. “Not unless Dark tells you to. But I have a feeling he would want to deal with this lemur himself.” She walked past Julien, her tail touching his shoulder as she padded by. She went to where she was sitting before, in the middle of the clearing.

The other cats went to go sit beside her, but most of them still looked at Julien with hostile eyes. A tabby-and-white she-cat walked over to Julien and started pushing him to the other side of the clearing, to where the trees were the thickest. She put her tail in front of him, singling him to stop and sit down, so he did, seeing no point in arguing. He was relieved that the cats didn't kill him, but he still felt in danger. He looked down at the ground; then he heard a very familiar voice call to him.

“Julien!”


	12. A Rescue Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

They’ve been walking for a while now, and Alex wondered how much farther. She could see that everyone else was getting nervous the farther they came. Mort was lagging behind, and Maurice slowed his pace to match him step for step. There was misery in the little lemur’s eyes and she guessed he was thinking about King Julien.

Her father and his team were hurrying after Emily, but even they seemed worried. Victoria, who was walking beside Alex, was panting. Alex ran to catch up to Emily. “Hey!” she called, and the lemur turned her head to look at her, without stopping. “How much farther?” the penguin panted.

“Not far now,” she answered. “Just past these trees.” She pointed in a direction, but Alex wasn’t sure which trees she meant.

Skipper came to a halt and everyone stopped too. “We need a plan,” he declared. “Dark’ll have cats guarding the lemurs so we can’t just stroll in and rescue them.”

Nodding, Kowalski said,” We need someone to distract the cats while we sneak in and save as many lemurs as we can.”

His leader thought about this, while Rico and Private nodded their agreement. Alex swelled up with pride at her boyfriend’s sensible plan. They were just discussing who was going to do the distracting when rustling in the bushes startled them. Everyone tensed, ready for a fight, but instead of a cat, another creature stepped out in the open. It was an orange lemur with green eyes.

Alex blinked, wondering who she was.

Just then Maurice gasped,” Clover!” He ran to her, closely followed by Mort, and all three of them hugged.

“What are you doing here?” Maurice asked eagerly.

Skipper looked around and hissed at the lemurs,” Shh! Don’t forget we are close to the enemy!”

Clover eyed the penguins. “Who are they?” she whispered.

“I’ll introduce you later,” Maurice promised. “Right now we have to save King Julien.”

“King Julien?” Clover gasped. “They have him?”

Maurice nodded, but didn’t speak when Skipper shot him a look.

Quietly, they all crept closer until they came to a clearing. Hiding in the bushes that surrounded, they all looked out. Alex just barely kept in a gasp when she saw what laid beyond their hiding place. Lemurs were spread out all around, clearly hungry and sick. Then she noticed the ring tail lemur sitting in a corner.

_ King Julien! _ she thought, wondering how they were going to get him away from all the cats, who seemed to be keeping close eyes on the lemurs.

The king was speaking to another ring tail, but this one was shorter with green eyes and a black spot on his gray chest. Nearby, two more lemurs stood: One orange-and-black, and the other one a young female ringtail.

A whimper made her look beside her to see Mort staring watery-eyed at King Julien. “Must save the king,” he whined.

“Shh,” Skipper snapped. “We will save him,” he went on after a moment, speaking so quietly that Alex barely heard him.

Kowalski appeared beside his leader, and Alex narrowed her eyes when she saw that he was still favoring his foot. Without rest, it seemed to only be getting worse, but she knew that he wouldn’t admit that it was hurting him.

“We need someone to distract the cats so we can sneak down there,” the tall penguin whispered to his commanding officer, and Skipper nodded as he turned to Private.

There was a knowing look in the young penguin’s eyes that told Alex he had already guessed that he would be the distraction. He quickly saluted his leader and dashed off. The lemurs and penguins stood just outside the clearing, waiting in silence and watching the cats prowl around the prisoners. Alex couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She remembered King Julien telling her once how beautiful his home was, with colorful flowers and plants. He told her about all the dance parties he used to have. And now, this place looked nothing like she pictured it would look like. It was a foul smelling wasteland overrun by awful cats.

Suddenly there was a loud call from the other side of the forest and all the cats in the clearing snapped their heads up. Even some lemurs looked up, but Alex noticed they had no strength to react to the strange noise. She felt a rush of panic. How were they gonna rescue them if they don't even react to a strange noise?

Alex watched as the cats meowed something to each other and then two of them hurried to where the noise was coming from. She glanced at her father, seeing annoyance in his gaze that all of them didn't fall for the trap.

He signaled to Rico and Kowalski, and they seemed to immediately know what their leader wanted. They disappeared into the trees, also calling out, confusing the cats in the clearing.

“Come on,” Skipper whispered, watching the cats closely. “Just get far enough away from the lemurs so we can save Ringtail...”

The rest of the cats turned in the other direction and padded over there, meowing to each other. Skipper nodded to Alex, but he put a flipper in front of the lemurs when they tried to follow the penguins into the clearing.

Maurice looked ready to argue, while Mort was closed to tears. And the two females had a determined look in their eyes. But none of them spoke in case the cats overheard.

Skipper glared at them and made a signal to stay put. For another moment or two that seemed to drag on, the lemurs hesitated, obviously wanting to save their king. Finally, they stepped back, Maurice holding onto Mort so he didn't run out, and Alex breathed out a soundless sigh.

Then Alex and her father slipped into the clearing, keeping a watch out for cats in case they returned from their investigation of the strange noises.

Finally they got to where Julien was still talking to his friends. As soon as the lemur saw the penguins his eyes lit up and Alex could tell that he was about to shout something, but just in time Skipper dashed forward and closed his mouth.

“Shh!” He signaled to where the others were waiting and started pulling the lemur away.

Julien turned back to his friends and pointed to the trees. Alex guessed he was telling them to come along. Slowly and cautiously the animals crossed the clearing, still keeping an eye on the cats. Alex shivered every time her eyes landed on one of the prisoners. She saw a pleading look in their eyes, and she felt her flippers fold into fists, imagining taking on Dark herself for everything he’s done.

When they were out of the clearing and back with the others, Alex let out a huge breath, not realizing she had been holding it. She was glad that was over, but they still needed to save the rest of the lemurs.

“Patch?”

Maurice's voice made Alex turn, and she saw the aye-aye and the other lemurs surrounding the newcomers. The King’s adviser was talking to the male lemur that looked just like Julien but shorter and green eyes. “Is that really you? How have you been?”

A flash of anger appeared in the lemur's eyes. “Well just fine til Dark and his cats got here!”

“Yes,” agreed the orange-and-black lemur. “Those cats must be stopped!”

“And that's why we are here,” Skipper spoke up, breaking into their conversation. “But we can't talk here.” He turned just as his team came waddling out of the woods. He nodded to them. “Good job, men.” After they thanked him, he turned back to everyone else. “We need to get to the beach and discuss what we are going to do now.”

Suddenly there was yowling from the clearing. “The king is gone!”


	13. The Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own Alex the penguin and many more characters in this story.

As soon as Julien heard yowling from the clearing, he started running around, but he didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to get far away from here, away from the cats that he knew would take him back to Dark, who would probably get rid of him without question. He was aware that Maurice and Mort were freaking out, too.

Emily, Weasel, and Lilian were glancing around as if they expected cats to appear from the trees and attack them, which just might happen if they stayed here any longer! Then he spotted his brother, Patch, and his former bodyguard, Clover, not freaking out.

The next thing the king saw was a flash of black-and-white, and then he was on the ground, staring up at the lead penguin. Skipper glared down at him, then barked orders to his team to quiet down the other lemurs. The three penguins nodded and did as they were told. Julien got to his feet, dusting the dirt off him.

“Skipper,” Kowalski called out to his leader. “What's the plan?”

There was crashing behind them, and Skipper snapped his head around just as three cats jumped out of the clearing, followed by more. They quickened their pace once they spotted the animals.

“Run!” Skipper ordered, and everyone followed him.

Julien kept telling himself not to look over his shoulder, but before he could stop himself he glanced backwards and saw the cats on their tails. He then noticed that the smart penguin was falling behind, and that Alex was keeping pace with him.

“His hurt foot!” she called up to her father. “He can't run on it!”

“I'm fine!” Kowalski snapped, but just then he tripped over a fallen log, causing him to fall on his face.

Instantly Private and Rico went back to their friend's side, helping him to his feet and trying to run with him, but the extra weight was slowing them down. Julien noticed that Alex wasn't going to leave Kowalski's side. Glancing at Skipper, the ring tail lemur saw a look of annoyance in his eyes. The cats were almost upon them!

“We have to stop and fight!” Skipper declared, coming to a halt. He got into a fighting position, and Private and Rico joined him while Kowalski limped to a tree, obviously knowing he was in no state to fight. Alex went over to join him, while the new penguin, Victoria, joined the fighting group and braced herself.

As the penguins got ready to fight off the cats, the lemurs gathered together. “We should help them,” Patch said.

“But what do we know about fighting?” Weasel objected, shaking his head. “No, we should keep running.”

“We can’t leave them here to fight!” Maurice gasped. “Remember, this is our home. We can’t just do nothing while the penguins risk their lives saving us!” Turning to his king, he added,” We need to fight alongside the penguins!”

“But fighting sounds hard and painful!” Julien protested, fear shooting through him as he watched the cats approached the animals slowly as if they knew their appearance, their flicking tails, bristling fur, and bared teeth, was scary, which it was to Julien, but Skipper bravely stood his ground.

“They’ve helped us many times,” Maurice continued. “They’re helping us right now! Now it’s our turn to help them!”

“You all stay here,” Clover said, glancing at Julien, then Maurice. “I’ll handle this.” She walked over to the penguins.

“Come on, Your Majesty,” Maurice pleaded, and Julien sighed.

“Fine,” he groaned. He looked down at little Mort. “Okay, Mort! Go help the penguins!” He kicked the mouse lemur toward the cats, and he landed right in front of a large feline. The cat growled down at Mort, and he turned and ran back to Julien, hiding behind his legs. “You’re of no use, Mort!” the king snapped, glaring down at him.

“Stop messing around, Ringtail!” Skipper yelled at him. “Now would be a great time to  _ help us! _ ” The leader let out a grunt, and Julien turned to see a cat jumping on him and snapping his jaws to try to bite him. But Skipper kicked out and sent the creature flying.

Julien gasped as more cats appeared, attacking the penguins and Clover. Another cat tried jumping on Skipper, but he ducked and punched another one into the bushes. He watched in horror as a cat crept up on young Private.

Without another moment to think, the king ran over there, sliding underneath a cat and jumping over another. When he finally got to Private, he kicked the cat away, sending it into a tree. He watched as the cat stumbled to its paws and ran into the jungle.

The penguin turned huge eyes on him. “T-Thank you!” he stammered, but there was no time to say anything else. They ducked as two cats pounced on them. Spinning, Julien grabbed their tails and turned himself in circles, then let go of them. They went flying into the bushes and didn’t reappear.

“Brillant!” Private gasped.

Julien smiled. Maybe he knew a couple of moves after all. He glanced around and was surprised to see that the other lemurs had decided to join the fighting. He watched as Lilian and Weasel circled a cat, while Maurice and Emily fought alongside Skipper and Rico. Clover was taking on two cats all by herself and seemed to be winning. For a moment he didn’t see the new penguin, Victoria. Then he spotted her with a dark gray-and-white she-cat. He realized they were talking, but clearly it wasn’t a friendly conversation.

“Why did you do it, Vic?” the cat growled, circling the penguin, but keeping an eye on her.

Forgetting about the fighting going on around him, Julien watched the pair, not realizing he was holding his breath until he started feeling lightheaded. Breathing again, he heard Victoria answering the cat.

“I already told you: I didn’t know they were going to attack,” the penguin said, her voice low and threatening.

Julien saw the cat roll her eyes. “Dark almost died that day,” she hissed, crouching down as if preparing to pounce. “But luckily, I was there to save him. That’s when he made me his second-in-command.” Before Victoria could respond, the gray-and-white cat jumped on her, pinning her down. The cat whispered something to her, but he didn’t hear what she said.

He watched in horror as the cat opened her jaws and sank her teeth into the penguin’s neck. He pushed his way forward to help Victoria, but another cat jumped on him and dug its claws into his back.

Then a yowl from somewhere close by made everyone freeze. “Enough!”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! Thank you!


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